THN: The Dumbing and Watering Down of Reboots/Remakes

With the recent remake/reboot of child's play I have to write and make my voice heard somewhat.

There seems to be something, like some kind of mental block in people involved in these films retellings. Whether it's the executives, the script writers or maybe even the directors choices to make these changes.

It's 9/10 the wrong thing they change or dumb down the wrong type of things. Strangely some of these movies fail in trying to over explain some points which also adds to their failing, more on that later.

Horror movies are rife with reboots and remakes maybe even the odd reimagining. What are the things that I've seen that really degrade or sour the originals plots, storylines or characters.

Child's Play:

Take child's play for instance I'll admit I haven't seen it as it's not out yet at the time of me writing this article. But what I have learned of it which may or may not be right is few things I cannot forgive.
The Chucky design, he looks like an anime character, massive eyes and mouth, to me just doesn't like right. the original animatronic chucky seemed more expression full than the newer bland face face of the newer doll.
Good guys replaced by buddi it's not a major change but why change it? Good guys make you think it could be we do no evil, Buddies can be assholes lol.

My main grievance is our titular Chucky is not a killer possessed doll anymore. No it's now a killer ai, now to me that's how you really dumb down a plot. No longer do you have a wise cracking humanised doll you have a bland killer robot.

Now I say bland because no matter how much sass or wise cracking they stick in you'll be asking yourself how did an AI gone wrong learn to be like that?

Maybe there's certain elements that have yet to be seen of this movie that will help explain that situation, only time will tell. The bonuses are that Mark Hamill is voicing Chucky and he's a stellar voice actor. Also Aubrey Plaza is staring as Andy's mum she's always good.
For now I have to wait and see what this film holds in store, you'll see what that entails when I do my inevitable review of the film.

Nightmare on Elm Street:


This remake suffers from something, well two or three something's in my book. Over explaining certain points and removing a much needed tongue in cheek nature that a supernatural dream killer needs. The over explaining is one thing that really irks me in this film. We all know Freddy Krueger was a "child killer" hinted at that it was a little bit more than that too, see hinted at. The newer remake was pretty blatant in its saying he's a child rapist. We know that but we don't need it thrust in our faces especially with how serious the rest of the film is.
They tried to make Freddy scary that's another thing wrong or right, is his look in this where as h does look more effectively burnt I prefer his older look but that's just me, also being more scary? That had been done on Wes cravens new nightmare, pretty well too. Yet even that film managed to turn a tongue in cheek joke (literally a tongue out of a phone) into something more serious but with still that hint of humor of oh look a tongue in a phone!

Friday the 13th:


Now onto Friday the 13th remake, a remake/reboot I can actually get behind. Some people don't like it for the dumbing down of Jason's back story. This is where it differs for me, as strangely these parts seem like more of a recap to me because in this films case (to me at least) feels like a straight up sequel. Everything from his look to the way he acted was a picture perfect Jason.
Yeah that's right it's like Friday the 13th 9 1/2 to me I really do see this movie as and really feel like it's just more of what I like. Mindless masked killer goodness. That's pretty much all I have I have to say about this film. I do realise what I said can also be used as a detriment to the film instead of pluses.

Halloween:


The latest reboot was, good, it had solid acting was nice to see Micheal back with no silly runes or masked society involved. No women riding white horses as in the previous two remakes. The problem I have with these movies is that they ignore sequels.
I know they can say oh this starts from after the first movie, or second whatever unfortunately those movies still exist. You can't just expect people to forget about them.
Where does movie now go in my collection?
In-between one and two?
The thing with Halloween too is this isn't the first time they've done this either, H20 had us ignoring everything after a certain point too.
You can't just jam a new film in the middle of an established series especially one that ignores some past events. If your not good enough to write a sequel that involves most of what went before is it worth trying?

All in all i'm not against remakes, reboots, slot ins, whatever you want to call them. All i ask is you don't mess it up keep it as faithful to the series it's from as much as possible.

Review: Curse of Chucky (2013)

Stars: Brad Dourif

Budget: $5 million

Directed By: Don Mancini

I've stated many times that I thought seed of Chucky is the runt of the litter when it comes to the child's play films.
This doesn't in no means, mean in a franchise that doesn't seem to have any massive lows is a bad film.
It's just I think we can all agree Seed Is the odd one out.
Now curse is what I'd call at least a return to form for the series.

There seems to be a few less practical effects in this movie compared to some of the others and you can really tell the CGI compared to it here.
Especially in a later scene where chucky's face cracks, more on that later though.
We get the first appearance of Nica in this film played by none other than Brads own daughter Fiona Dourif showing off some acting chops to equal her fathers skills especially as a wheelchair bound woman too.

This movie does start of as a bit of a mystery even going so far as to trick you into thinking it could be before part 3 because Chucky 'seems' to be unscarred in the beginning of the film. It's good in the sense that for me it goes back to some of the baser horror elements that the original 2 movies had.
Finding himself delivered to Nica's house in a package by a stranger the pranky little killer takes no time in dispatching Nica's mother Sarah which gets ruled out as a suicide.
Nica's sister Barb comes into the scene then with her husband Ian, their daughter Alice and stay in babysitter. Also Father Frank seems to be sticking his nose in around the joint too. Alice find Chucky and decides to keep him.

Barb is very overbearing on Nica and everyone is also suspicious of her, later on while Nica and Alice are making a some food for the family Chucky secretly adds rat poison into one of bowls. Father Frank is the unlucky one and ends up in a car accident on the way home due to the fever from the poison. Hilariously when the services show up to save him they end up accidentally decapitating him in the process due to the way he's trapped.
Nica, which i like, is not stupid in this film and when the family are lately reminiscing and watching old family movies she notices a young Charles Lee Ray in them. She also finds the original packaging in which the doll came in as a police evidence lock up!
Not to mention the doll has gone missing, though this sets up a twist I rather like in this film. Jill the babysitter goes looking for the doll but is met by Barb and the both kiss. This shows that men don't always have to be the bad guys in relationships.
Nica returns the room to find Chucky sat on the sofa by Ian who is now asleep, she gets the doll and uses her special elevator to take him back to Alice. When the lights and power black out again Chucky tentatively slashes at Nica's leg where she doesn't notice, she then returns the doll to the sleepy girl.

Nica decides to look Charles and finds out that a number of murders over the last few years had been linked to him and the good guy doll. She doesn't like to believe it but comes to realize that the doll could well be alive with his spirit inside it.
While this is happening Barb is in the bedroom with Ian on he laptop, unknown to Ian she is chatting to Jill who is in Alice's room stripping for her pleasure on the webcam. However in the background Barb notices something move suspecting it to be her daughter, she tells Jill.
Jill however see's that it's Chucky on the floor with a weapon she goes to escape but the evil doll knocks over a water pail of rain water (from a leak) into a power outlet, connecting to Jill also it electrocutes her to death. This causes another blackout and worried Barb goes to check on Jill under the pretense of checking on Alice. Ian however snidely remarks that he knows why she's really going, he had secretly placed a miniature camera on Chucky not trusting his wife.

Going past the attic stairs Barb notices Chucky has been sat on the edge of the attic stairs, she thinks Alice may have gone up there and goes to look. With no way of getting up the stairs due to the blackout knocking out her elevator Nica makes the arduous task of climbing up the stairs on just her arms. Barb on picking up the doll notices he has a knife in his dungarees, disapproving of it she stick him down on something while she looks around the attic better.
When she turns back however Chucky has moved from a trunk to a shelf, she moves in for a closer look and realizes that parts of the dolls features are flaking away. These are revealing the stitches underneath from when Tiffany repaired him in bride, freaked out she gets even more terrified when he leaps forwards and gouges one her eyes out.
Nica who has made it to the bottom of the attic stairs looks up in time to see Chucky throw down Barbs eyeball, closely followed by a now dead Barb falling down the steps too. Chucky slowly walks down the stairs but Nica manages to crawl away and get her back-up wheelchair from a closet before he makes it down. Rolling down to the hallway with him pursuit she tries to check on Alice but see's the girl has vanished. She then proceeds to Ian's room to try warn him about everything that's happened. He's very skeptical to begin with as Nica tries to tell everything as he wheels her towards the garage.

He then goes back to try and find Alice, except he finds both Jill and Barbs corpses. Meanwhile in the garage Chucky has already locked himself in a car where he proceeds to try and choke Nica with exhaust fumes before she can get out. The plucky girl however fights back by grabbing a hatchet then smashing in the cars window to get to the killer doll. Ian comes back at the wrong moment seeing Nica acting madly with a hatchet and suspects her of the killings, yeah clever guy i know, he disarms her. Nica however, passes out from the stress of the situation.
She awakes a little time later to find Ian has tied her to her wheelchair, Ian is checking the footage from the secret camera for proof that Nica was the killer. However the footage shows him that Chucky is indeed alive and has trapped Alice inside a closet, also that Barb and Jill were having an affair too.
Chucky however has commandeered Nica's other wheelchair which he uses to run down Ian, he then uses the hatchet to remove the mans lower jaw. Nica trying to break free the killer then turns on her, she manages get free but not before Chucky hit her in the leg with the hatchet. Silly doll, she doesn't feel pain there remember? She bats him away, then removing the weapon uses it to decapitate the mad doll as he gets up.

despite not feeling it, wound is quite bad, Nica tries to tend to it not noticing Chucky rising from the floor and replacing his head. He grabs the wheelchair and pushes her down the hallway sending her flying down the bottom floor, he walks down the stairs taunting her.
Nica asks him why he's doing this to her and her family. Laughing he explains that he was a friend of the family and was in love with Sarah, who won't leave her husband as she was pregnant with Nica at the time. Even when Charles Kills her husband and kidnaps her she still refuses to be with him, before she's saved by police however he stabs Sarah in the stomach. That stab is what made Nica unable to use her legs before she was even born.
It was that subsequent police chase that made him go to the toy store and become trapped in the good guy doll. The electricity suddenly returns stunning Chucky, giving Nica time to quickly crawl to the elevator. Not quick enough however as the crazy doll attacks her slashing at her fingers before dropping the knife. Nica retrieves the weapon taunting Chucky to attack her, he does where she manages to stab him through with the knife. However like last time he come back to attack her however a police officer has arrived at the house and hears her scream. Busting in through the door it seems Chucky has sat himself on the sofa instead of attacking Nica, however the officer sees the corpses and Nica holding a bloody knife and she gets arrested instead.

In the court case Nica is sentenced to go to an insane asylum, however before she is removed she smiles tauntingly at Chucky who is being used as evidence. taken away by a police officer Chucky is once more taken by Tiffany who cuts the officers throat after he notices the doll breathing.
I'll leave it here but there's not an incredible lot left though what is left is good and telling here would also spoil the next movie in the franchise too. THN enjoyed Curse very much though it goes back to the familiar older tropes of the series it's still missing a certain something and the CGI use rather than practical effects especially where Chucky's face flakes off looks bad. Overall a good return to form for the series though with a recommendation to watch. Curse of Chucky is awarded 3 out of 5 stars.

Review: Ghost Stories (2018)

Stars: Martin Freeman, Andy Nyman

Budget: Unknown

Directed By: Nyman&Dyson

A good old British film written by one of the distinguished league of gentlemen, Jeremy Dyson, also Andy Nyman who also stars. Nyman I had only really ever seen him in dead set, a Charlie Brooker zombie apocalypse film with satyrical elements based around big brother. The film does boasting some of the best practical effects I've seen in a film in a long time too.
It seemed they tried to stay away from CGI as much as possible which is never bad thing when there's usually a choice between not having it or a noticeably bad effect if it used. For the first time in a while since watching horror movies I actually felt a little on edge in some situations,
especially in the first segment with Paul Whitehouse.

The film is an almost anthology with the typical amount of (3) segments to it linked by a last (4th) overarching narrative. Now these are reasonably strong segments
but one thing I will state here before the main review it, to me at least was very roundabout way of getting to a point which I didn't find was told too well through the overarching plot. Dont get me wrong I noticed all the little things alluding to the ending throughout the film, I just thought it was bloated way to tell a story. Though each section of the bloat was a decent enough section on its own. I suppose in this case the sum of the parts were indeed greater than the end!
So lets get on with explaining what happens before as usual I rate this film.

Nyman plays a well known stalwart detective (Phillip Goodman) in proving that ghosts, psychics and pretty much anything that goes bump in the night can be explained by either fraud or misbelief. It is shown early and throughout the film he comes from a background with an abusive father. He is an avid fan and follower of one other skeptical detective from the 70s who mysteriously vanished a few years back.
That is until he receives a mysterious package through the door one day. It contains a VHS tape on that tape is one very aged looking Charles Cameron (the 70s detective) who tells him to meet him at a secret location. He is very sickly and lives in a caravan full of medical equipment in the middle of nowhere. He implores Goodman to investigate three cases that may just change his outlook on things.

The first story is about a security guard/night watchman Tony, played by Whitehouse. It's your typical affair weird things happening in a dark deserted building, freaky ghost kids scaring the shit out of people as they do. The little bastards. It's possibly the best segment and like i said actually caught me off guard too, which I think may have raised the bar of my expectations a bit to high for the rest of the film.
The Second case a teen called Simon Rifkind who seems to have developed an acute OCD and interest in the occult since his ordeal. Where he borrowed his parents car without having passed his lessons. Which as you when you do that accidentally knock someone, or something down with said car while unqualified. That something being a weird demon. It's here we start to get some clues as to whats really going on things that freak Goodman out. Although he still explains them as 'rational' to himself.
The third case in a rich business man Mike Priddle, played by Martin Freeman. In his story he is haunted by an unknown entity while his aged wife (explained they waited for a long time to have a baby) is pregnant. She dies giving birth to a child that has some kind of defect. Goodman keeps seeing things more and more as the story is recounted to him. It ends with the abrupt suicide by shotgun blast to the face of Priddle.

Still not totally convinced just on his shear willpower that everything can be explained he goes to see Cameron again to tell him so. This is where the story takes a weird twist and it's basically always been about Goodman. Cameron rips of a mask revealing he's Priddle, but is he? is all this real? I kind of lost interest here, I had always seen where the film was going story wise anyway. Unfortunately the long winded and round about way they take to get to such, to me at least, a poor conclusion is not worth it. I would have preferred a much more standard ending to the one we actually get.
Will I spoil the ending?
No it's not quite that bad, so it gets a spoiler free pass from THN but it does only garner itself a reasonably weak 2 out of 5 stars with a watch if you really want to see that ending i'm so loathed about lol.

Review: Happy Death-Day 2U (2019)

Stars: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard

Budget: $9 million

Directed By: Christopher Landon

What can I say the first Happy Death Day took my complete surprise I went in with certain expectations but had them totally changed and had an amazing time.
You can probably see this reflected in my original review of here on this very site.

I'm quite vocal about the fact I'm not a fan of the purge series of films, I've watched most of them but I do not share the enthusiasm most have for the series.
this series is done by the same guy and I can happily say he's so skilled to be able to flip flop from that style of film to this one.
Blumhouse productions helms this series too who really seem to be picking up speed as a company as of late. I'm seeing their name attached to a lot of productions lately.

Now for some hard truths I loved the first but I also heard almost immediately that there was going to be a sequel to it. I felt joy but also trepidation, where could this series go after that ending?
I made some guesses I'm happy to report that not all them came true though a few did. One of the things I loved about the first one was this was just happening it wasn't explained as such it was supernatural, cosmic, one of many reasons. Unfortunately this second one falls into the trope of 'explaining to much' I see some people have a need for reasons why, hell I do, that's why I hated the end of LIFE, that's another story though. With a smallish budget again it is good what they do with the 9 million dollars both effects and set wise, as well as actor fees.
Sometimes things work best when there's no explanation or just little hints as to whats going on behind the main story. But what I will say if it wasn't for the introduction of this McGuffin this film wouldn't have been the film it was and in no way detracts from the initial pull of the first film.
It also doesn't make this a bad either just more predictable which is a bonus that I miss from the first film. I also guessed one major plot point many months ago, though that I won't let detract from much from the overall experience as it was just a good guess I suppose.

We actually see the beginning of this movie from Ryan's point of view, He wakes up in his car then amusingly we see him walk in on Tree/Carter like as if it's a scene from the last movie. It's not though as it's now the day after Tuesday the 19th.
He goes to his class where him and a few classmates have been working on the quantum accelerator, or something like that (I've watched this once can't totally remember the McGuffins name and don't want to look it up this is a firsthand experience review).
This is what was responsible for Tree reliving the same day over and over, it caused several power outages in the meantime so the Dean ends up shutting the project down. Ryan is then murdered by the baby faced killer only to wake up on the morning again in his car. He confides in Tree and Carter She explains to him about her reliving the previous day, they come to the conclusion that the machine is responsible for everything.

The new Baby face killer finds them, Tree seasoned in this subdues the killer but in a weird unmasking turns out to be Ryan himself. He warns them if Ryan doesn't die the loop will continue forever. Disbelieving the original Ryan messes with the machine in hopes to close the loop, this however has a weird effect.
Tree now wakes up on the Monday again, totally disbelieving it all she goes a bit mad again. She gets them all together and goes straight for the machine this time to try and sort out the problem. They begin work but Tree begins to notice some things are different. Carter for a start is going out with Danielle (who is seemingly nice), she confronts Lori about the poisoned cupcake, but there isn't one.
Then when she goes for her birthday meal with her dad she is shocked to see that her mother is still alive too. Not only is she back to the Monday she has been thrown into a parallel universe too!

This i admit I did not see coming and was a great twist, unfortunately the film quickly degenerates into the same formula of the first film (one thing i was scared of) though some of the deaths and suicides are amazingly amusing this time around just as much as the first film. I've seen 'a few' snow flakes moan about the suicide vibe in the first film and now this one which would be fine if it was making light of actual suicide. This film is a comedy film and requires the girl to die to perpetuate the story line it's through her own choice (most of the time) and for reasons most people tragically take their lives like bullying, sexual preferences etc, that would certainly be degrading to the cause, shes doing it as it necessitates the situation.
We do now get a new dilemma for this movie does Tree stay here where her mother is still alive but Carter is with someone else or go back to her own reality?
I'm not going to spoil any more of this film as from this moment on it treads close to the first plot now, with the new Mcguffin and parallel worlds thrown in, as well as a few different situations because of this change. Its, lacking just a little spark of originality that the first had for me but is almost as enjoyable despite my previous reasons.

THN awards Happy Death Day 2U a strong 3 out of 5 stars and if you enjoyed the first one your definitely going to enjoy this one almost as much. Lets wait and see what part 3 holds (wait till the end of the film btw)

Review: Seed of Chucky (2004)

Stars: Brad Douriff, Jennifer Tilly

Budget: $12 Million

Directed By: Don Mancini

The one a lot of people forget about, it's not necessarily bad but it's definitely the weakest of the bunch. Though it does move the story along at the very least.

We all Tiffany gave birth at the end of Bride, that pretty much closed the movie after all. All the usual people are back in their respectful places too.
Brad Douriff as the voice of the insane killer doll Chucky and Jennifer Tilly as the voice of his equally deranged girlfriend doll Tiffany. Don Mancini is there at the helm too in his as directing debut film.

this is set 6 years after bride and part 3 (which were meant to be the same time almost) and the child that they had has grown up considerably in that time.

Having been discovered and brought up by a person using him as a ventriloquist doll the six year old doll boy named Glen, who seems to age slightly differently than a real boy (though this is not said). See's something on TV about the serial killers Tiffany and Chucky, he then realises they are his real parents. Glen escapes the clutches of his owner, who was a dick to him anyway and discovers that actress Jennifer Tilly is in possession of two prop dolls as she's doing a film about them (meta anyone?).
Glen finds both of them in the movie prop room and uses a voodoo amulet to bring (the heart of damballa) them both back to life. Both of them react in the obvious ways Chucky faints possibly in denial and Tiffany loves it that she has a child.
It's quickly cut short when someone enters the room and they all play the usual prone, that is until the puppeteer starts to fiddle with Tiffany.Both her and Chucky garrote the puppeteer with some piano wire and end up decapitating him. Hiding again as Jennifer (playing herself) Tilly enters and finds the man dead and she calls the police.

The three dolls manage to evade detection however and hide inside Jeniffers limo. Glen however gets deeply alienated by his parents actions, he can't understand why they keep killing people. He makes Tiffany and Chucky promise not to kill anyone else.
Chucky however keeps his fingers crossed behind his back the whole time.

Now the plot for this one is a bit convoluted, I'll summarise it up as best I can. Chucky and Tiffany try to possess people to give them bodies back. Jennifer being Tiffanys main target and Redman (a real life rapper) who is making a film Jen wants to be in.
Tiff and Chucky argue a lot over things, Glen ends up accidentally killing someone which Chucky thinks wasn't an accident. Tiffany inseminates Jennifer making her pregnant with Chucky's semen. Glen has ends up with a female murderous split personality called Glenda, Chucky's choices for transference end up getting killed lots.
This all leads up to near the final act of the film.  (Oh and amusingly they kill Brittany spears at one point)

Right near the end after Jeniffer gives birth to twins Tiffany attempts to possess her one more time. She is however mortally wounded by Chucky before she can. This actually forces Glen to react and attack Chucky back.
Is it Glenda?
Does he beat Chucky?
What happens to Jennifer's babies?
These are things you will have to find out yourself as, as always here on THN I don't spoil movie ending unless they are quite quite abysmal. Even though seed is by far for me the worst entry in the series it's still not as bad as say a spin off remake where the good guy doll is just killer AI gone mad no one would do that right?
Oh wait, cough, anyway THN awards Seed of Chucky a solid 2 stars out of 5 but only in conjunction with the rest of the series otherwise it's still quite a solid watch especially if your a fan of the series.

THN Interviews: Decades Apart Productions on new Film Silver Stars on Red Velvet

THN has been granted an interview with Decades Apart Production on the newest film they are currently working on.

R J Cusyk is a great guy who I've always had good relations with over our love of low budget movie making. Nay not even low budget super low budget. As you'll discover later in the interview just how much money this company manages to work on and expertly squeeze out each penny/cent.
It's the small guys like these that deserve everything they get as they work so very, very hard with constant worry of something fucking up. When they do make something it's usually very special, pushes the boundaries and groundbreaking.
I love the premise for this one and can't wait to see it in the near future.

1. Where did you get the idea for the new film from this time?

The main story came about due to a conversation I had with a former girlfriend. I mentioned if she ever cheated on me that I would date an adult film star. The idea seemed a bit comical to me so I began writing a script in which a guy does indeed date an adult film star to get back at an ex-girlfriend. However, the idea started taking a dark turn very early on and I figured “hey, it’s a giallo now.”

2. What's been the budget this time and how have you spent it this time?

The budge this time is an estimated $6,000. This covers our poster, our music, and the film itself. It hasn’t been easy but I think we’ve done well stretching out budget out. We have a lot more sets compared previous projects. We really tried to be frugal but also try out new techniques.

3. Have you learnt anything new in the way of effects on this production, practical or else?

The last film you saw from us was our giallo film Through the Devil’s Eyes. Since that time, we have made two other feature length films, which had a lot of different experimentation, a lot of the stuff that worked, made it into this film. We do have some new effects and ideas being implemented as well, so don’t worry that you’ve seen all this from us before. One of the biggest reasons why we didn’t use a lot of blood in Through the Devil’s Eyes was the recipe we used for a more giallo-esque blood had the tendency to stain. For this film, I decided to try and create a shade similar to what we used there but also wanted to make sure it didn’t have the tendency to stain.

THN: as stated in something so low a budget production they even have to think about staining of clothes etc, these are the extra worries small productions companies like these have to face to keep budget down!

4. How far along in the production are you?

We’re currently recording ADR, recording folly and having music composed by PacoPeriago. We have worked with Paco before on our film Keeping Justice.

5. When will we see it completed and available and where will it be available from, shops, streaming services etc.?

I’m looking at an October release date. It will be available on DVD alongside our previous projects through our website www.decadesapartproductions.com. Unfortunately, the film has been deemed as extremely offensive, so it will not be available on Amazon.

THN: that sucks, considering some of the rubbish that gets released on Amazon that they won't give you a chance to show your work on there.

6. Who are your actors and where have we seen them before or is this a debut for them?

Max Caudell will be playing our male lead; he is best known for If By 40, Keeping Justice, and Edge of Insanity. Laura Sharlotte will be playing our female lead; this is her first role in a feature film. Michael Lakota Dillon, known for Keeping Justice and A Final Hit, will also be joining us. Finally, Joseph Calverase will be reprising his role from Through the Devil’s Eyes.

THN: it'll be nice to see Joseph back in his role from that film

7. Any other projects in the works or on the horizon you'd like to tell us about?

We have a few projects lined up after this one. However, I don’t want to say too much about them in case something falls through, this often happens with independent projects.

8. Will we be seeing you and/or the film at any festivals this year?
I’m hoping to get Silver Stars into a few upcoming festivals, it would really be great.

9. Finally anything you would like to add here:

Thank you so much for the interview, keep an eye open for Silver Stars on Red Velvet, coming soon.

THN: Well there you have it we'll have this latest giallo offering from a company that I personally think needs much more recognition for the time and work they put into their productions.

Review: Puppet Master (1989)

Stars: Irene Miracle, Paul le Matt

Budget: $400,000

Directed By: David Schmoeller

Puppet master I remember watching this again as a young kid and not really understanding it fully other than it was moderately funny, had some cool little puppets in there and wasn't scary in the slightest. On rewatching it a few years later I finally was able to follow it's story a little better (though not much as I touch on later). I had always gotten it into my mind that the puppets were evil see and though this is true here they do end up some times being either the heroes, antiheroes or just the villian's in later instalments.

Later instalments of which there are many, possibly more than most other horror franchises actually. These possessed puppets have been the focus of many a film maker. Despite the fact that series has never garnered a massive ratings hit in any of its iterations, even to today it only has a small cult following. Smaller than than many other franchises that live on to today like child's play or Friday the 13th, yet there are fans there for this series.

The original here centres on a puppet maker named André Toulon. He has discovered a method of bring inanimate creations to life. It is 1939 when we meet him and he is working on a new puppet.
We see some of his other creations skulking about as he finishes up. One is khan who is watching through the window, the other is puppet master staple blade.
A white faced grinning puppet that has a long black coat, black Stetson and a large sharp knife for one hand, hence the name.
Blade sees two Nazis (who we later learn have been looking for Toulon) enter the building. He manages to make it back to the room before they do. Andre finishes the puppet and places it along with the all the others in a sealed of hole in the wall. Before the soldiers get to him he ends his own life with a gunshot.

Flash to 1989. Random psychics Alex, Dana, Frank, and Carrissa are having odd visions (funny to see Barbara Crampton cameo in one of these scenes) each of them make contact with a mutual friend called Neil Gallagher. They work out that they have found the secret hiding place of Andre Toulon. They all go to the Bodega bay Inn and are greeted by Megan Neil's wife, the inn being the one we saw from the beginning in 1939, she proceeds to tell them that neil shot himself.
Disbelieving but curious the psychics investigate and have more visions. Someone being raped in an elevator, another one is a masked guy dancing with Megan, who turns out to be Neil when he takes his mask off.

Each one of the psychics has a special area, some or able to touch and receive a vision while others like Dana can tell fortunes. Later a puppet with a misproportioned body and small head (pinhead) climbs out of Neil's casket.
We learn later that the four of them were helping Neil research an ancient way of alchemy. Doing so Frank and Neil discover the ability to make the elixir that bestows life on inanimate objects. Unable to perfect it they further learn about Toulon who was a 'True Alchemist' and seek his work out to help them.
Neil inexplicably vanished soon after and a few of them believe he ran off with some new knowledge he found.

That night the puppets get up to all sorts of mischief from knocking out Theresa to just downright killing Carrissa and Frank when they try, in a sexy fun time way to contact Neil.
Dana also ends up killed in a way she forsaw by blade cutting her throat.
Finally Megan takes Alex to André Toulon's room where she says Neil found the secret to the formula. Afraid for his life he and Megan rush downstairs to find the others corpses in the dinning room with a very much alive Neil.

This film is messed up, it feels like it wasn't cut properly in places and the story is genuinely all over the place. This series I can genuinely say got better as the film's went on well atleast to a midway point where it kind of slumped again. One interesting fact is that they also did a crossover with demonic toys (an even worse franchise than this) one possitive I can give this series is they are entertainingly funny, the dolls are very creative too especially tunneler who has a spiral drill on his head. Effects wise I can say some are downright terrible with others middling to fair.
THN awards puppet master a two star rank with a mild watch it if your in the mood recommendation.