quridley Part 2 is the classic Charles Band movie: cool premise wasted by cheap production and flat filmmaking. This sequel improves the villains from Part 1 (bringing us into a more Slasher setup) but everything else suffers. The setting is cheaper, the script is dumber and the actors are more comatose. The film has bright spots but they are wedged between painfully long filler scenes and bad soap opera acting. You see the beginning of the Full Moon formula for padding out movies with a handful of awesome moments with lots of nothingness. To its credit, PM2 is better shot and more entertaining than all of the sequels that followed. To many fans, PM2 is regarded as superior to the original because the standard DVD boxset release features a version that is sped up for cable. Watch the original and you will see its a drag-ass imitation of a much better film.

Leofwine_draca The second in Charles Band's incredibly long-running PUPPET MASTER series, following on from the distinctly average horror B-movie thrills of the original. PUPPET MASTER II features less of a story than the first; the story sees the evil toymaker Toulon brought back from the grave by his creepy puppets to hassle and harass a group of paranormal researchers from a US university.What this all boils down to is another series of gory murders perpetrated by the inimitable living puppets from the first film. Characters are drilled, slashed, and burned alive, and it's all handled with low rent aplomb by director David Allen. It's all complete nonsense of course, but fans of this sort of stuff will lap it up.PUPPET MASTER II does at least TRY to offer material of interest. There are some fun flashback scenes thrown into the mix, and given that the actor playing Toulon didn't come back for the sequel, the villain is dressed up as Claude Rains in THE INVISIBLE MAN and looks good. Inevitably the characters are all one-dimensional and the dialogue is poor enough that this would have been better as a silent film, but the plethora of low budget effects work is actually pretty decent, particularly the inventive climax with those ultra-creepy life-size dolls.

amesmonde The puppets return, this time they hunt down some locals and paranormal researchers to assist their master in his evil plan.Charles Band's story and David Pabian's screenplay is almost a remake of the first film. Effects wizard David Allen in the directing chair exceeds the 1st certainly in terms of effects and atmosphere.While this installment reduces Andre Toulon / Eriquee Chaneé to a walking nod to the Invisible Man and other Universal classic characters, in contrast to how he is presented in the later adventures, it is by far the creepiest of the bunch. Steve Welles performance is wonderfully over the top and steals every scene.Veteran Nita Talbot is on fine form and the remaining cast are a mixed blessing, Charlie Spradling and Elizabeth Maclellan give solid performances while here at least Collin Bernsen and Jeff Celentano are as mechanical as Tunneler's innards.Despite it's editing and story flaws Allen gives us a darker faster paced and eerier film than it's predecessor. The flashbacks are welcome and the paranormal investigation angle, while not totally original, gives the proceeds some weight and intrigue. Notably Blade running and jumping from a bed to slice his victim is probably one of best low budget horror moments to date. There are many stand out moments in part 2, Leech Woman's demise, Torches encounter with a toy whipping boy and the unworldly human puppets reminiscent of the aliens in Carpenter's (1988)They Live to name a few.As with all the films in the Puppet Master series they always leave you with one burning question, in two's case: Why didn't Julianne Mazziotti/Nita Talbot's Camille get her own sequel with your favorite little puppets?

Scarecrow-88 A group of paranormal researchers visit the late Andre Toulon's palatial hotel on top of the cliff overlooking Bodega Bay, coming in contact with the deceased German creator's killer dolls, unfortunate for them. Stop motion effects maestro David Allen got his chance to sit in the director's chair for PUPPETMASTER II, the decision making sense considering it's more or less an f/x movie. Nita Talbot(haha, nice homage to THE WOLF MAN) is Camille, a mystic hired to possibly spot what science can not..mostly she spouts psycho-babble and mumbo jumbo, but she comes in useful when it's time for dolls to execute folks. Elizabeth Maclellan is Carolyn Bramwell, head of the research team, her brother Patrick(Gregory Webb)along with students Lance(Jeff Celentano) and Wanda(Charlie Spradling) also part of this group hoping to discover some sort of paranormal activity. What they do not expect is a resurrected Toulon(Steve Welles), under the disguise of Eriquee Chaneé, wearing bandages to hide his hideous visage due to the deterioration of his corpse(a hat and black cape paying obvious homage to THE INVISIBLE MAN), claiming he owns the property for which they are conducting research. Toulon allows this because Carolyn reminds him of his wife, Elsa. Michael(Collin Bernsen), an author of westerns, is Camille's son and when he is told she has "disappeared", he comes to the hotel resort to seek her out, falling in love with Carolyn in the process. Meanwhile, the puppets, including a new one called Torch(a blow torch on it's arm sets victims on fire), decide to take up where they left off from the previous movie, killing people. Their brains are of interest to Toulon for he needs the human material for a serum which keeps the puppets active and alive(including himself), but eventually the creations are offended that the dolls' creator would choose to have his Elsa(Carolyn)in a human-sized marionette form(there's also a male marionette version for himself)than to keep them restored and living. Dave Allen's creations are the real highlight of the Puppetmaster series and I think that's why there have been so many movies since 1989. The drill-head doll shows up momentarily to burrow a hole in a victim's forehead. Hook also gets in on the fun, slicing and stabbing, but most of his damage is done off screen. George "Buck" Flower and Sage Allen have supporting parts as a couple putting up electrical barb wire around their cabin which doesn't do any good.