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Retro Puppet Master
USA 1999
produced by Kirk Edward Hansen, Vlad Paunescu, Charles Band (executive), Peter Locke (executive), Donald Kushner (executive) for Full Moon, the Kushner-Locke Company
directed by David DeCoteau (as Joseph Tennent)
starring Greg Sestero, Brigitta Dau, Stephen Blackehart, Jack Donner, Guy Rolfe, Robert Radoveanu, Vitalie Bantas, Sando Teodor, George Calin, Juliano Doman, Vlad Dulea, Dan Fintescu, Serban Celea, Elvira Deatcu, Claudiu Trandafir, Marcello Cobzarju, Viorel Manole, Mihai Verbintschi, Adrian Ciobanu, Razvan Popa, Aurelian Popa, Cristian Irimia, Ion Bechet
story by Charles Band, screenplay by Benjamin Carr, based on characters by David Schmoeller, music by John Massari, puppet design and effects by Christopher Bergschneider, Jeffrey S.Farley, visual effects by John R.Ellis, Jerrod Cornish, David Lange
Puppet Master
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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Paris, 1902: André Toulon (Greg Sestero) is nothing but a mere
puppeteer, but he's good enough that Ilsa (Brigitta Dau), a diplomat's
daughter, falls in love with him because of his art. That's when he saves
Afzel (Jack Donner) from certain death though, and Afzel just happens to
be a magician who has stolen the secret of life from Egyptian God Sutekh.
And since Afzel has only days to live anyhow, he teaches Toulon the art of
giving life to lifeless objects (Toulon's puppets in this case) - and
Toulon soon has to notice he is in bad need of some puppet friends since a
trio of mummies (Stephen Blackehart, Robert Radoveanu, Vitalie Bantas) in
Sutekh's employ kill all of his real friends because they are after Afzel
... and once Afzel is dead, they come after Toulon. Toulon is able to
fight off the mummies' first attack with the help of his puppets, but the
mummies are quick to take Ilsa hostage and lure Toulon onto a train for a
showdown ... where Toulon manages to defeat them all with the help of his
puppets and save Ilsa of course. Not too great a film about the
(humble) beginnings of the Puppet Master-saga, which is much
better in mere ideas and concept than it is in actual execution: The whole
premise to blend the series' formula with Parisian turn-of-the-century
settings might sound interesting, and mummies are always lots of fun
(well, not really), but way too much room in this film is given to a Romeo
and Juliet-style lovestory, plus the film's directorial effort
is way too slick to make much of its period settings and too old-fashioned
to make the film special in any way. Well, at least the puppets are nice
to look at ...
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review © by Mike Haberfelner
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Thanks for watching !!!
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Robots and rats,
demons and potholes, cuddly toys and shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill Your Bones to is all of that.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to -
a collection of short stories and mini-plays ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle,
all thought up by the twisted mind of screenwriter and film reviewer Michael Haberfelner.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to
the new anthology by Michael Haberfelner
Out now from Amazon!!! |
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