It seems that the executive producer Charles Band has an fixation about films with homicidal little creatures. Starting already with Ghoulies and Troll – both subpar horror movies – the 1987 Dolls was a feature film where he finally moved onto actual dolls – a trend that has continued in his filmography up to date.

Otherwise a solid and an atmospheric horror film, Puppet Master is ultimately ruined by its dodgy, poorly animated dolls. Forget seeing some state of the art puppetry in the vein of Child’s Play, the marionettes here never manage to give an impression of actual living creatures.

Originally aimed for a theatrical release, Puppet Master was instead released as a home video in October 1989 and has since gained a whopping 12 sequels, most of which also ended up released as direct to video.

80s-o-meter: 68%

Total: 47%