How many puppet master films

Charles Band's Puppet Master starts in when Toulon takes his life as a last ditch effort to keep his formula and powers of bringing his puppets to life from the Nazis. This is the original story of Toulon: no Egypt, Paris, or Switzerland involved.

The movie then shifts to when Neil discovers the puppets hidden in the walls of the home he now inhabits. Once he sets them free, they terrorize the entire group and eventually kill them all for rather inexplicable reasons.

This may be due to the fact that they are presumably evil puppets; they didn't have an established savior arc at this point and, therefore, didn't necessarily follow any sort of guidelines. Puppet Master 2 takes place a year later when the puppets discover the corpse of their creator in a cemetery.

They successfully reanimate him as a zombie, bringing Toulon back to the 20th century. In this installment, Toulon falls in love with Carolyn, who he believes to be the reincarnation of his deceased lover, Elsa. While there is a flashback to —when he and Elsa discover the formula—there is nothing said about Nazis whatsoever. At this point in the franchise, the puppets are still mindless killers who live to serve their creator, Toulon. Puppet Master 4 features a group of scientists who are examining the ability to bring inanimate objects to life.

After discovering Toulon's diary, the formula, and his puppets, Ricky Myers brings them back to life. As a result, he becomes their new keeper. The puppets are hell-bent on keeping Ricky safe; Toulon's spirit even surrenders their ownership to him.

This was an excellent move in the franchise, as it had to progress past Toulon's storyline in order to find success in the future, but they inevitably returned to the original puppeteer just a few movies later. Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter stays true to the timeline and picks up where the fourth movie left off. As a result of the previous events, Rick has been arrested, but has been let out on bail by his colleague who wants to research the life-giving formula.

The sole purpose of Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter was to conclude the franchise, but it did not. It gave one of the best endings it could have, as Rick repairs the puppets who have protected him and will continue to protect him, with Toulon reassuring him that he is doing the right thing. As this timeline suggests, the final chapter was not, in fact, the final chapter.

Sometime between and , the puppets were acquired by a museum and are now under the ownership of Dr. As he does not have the formula that brought Toulon's puppets to life, he needs to find a new means of giving life to the inanimate objects.

Magrew transplants the souls of the living into the puppets. When the original characters come to life unexpectedly, they kill their new owner as they never wanted to harm anyone that was innocent, which somewhat contradicts their original storyline. Roll credits. I suppose these films also do have a history with WTF abrupt endings but this is just madness in the best possible sense.

The original film that started it all, with Charles Band surely having no idea how much of an impression these creepy characters would leave on their audience. The film is grabbing right from its opening frames as Andre Toulon, puppet master, suddenly blows his brains out as the G Men come for him and his secret. This leads to some welcome recurring dreams that have such a hyperbolized tone and are really bonkers. In fact, all of this psychic material is deliciously weird and off-kilter.

It feels like something from out of a different film, like one of the later Silent Night ventures or some manic Carpenter entry.

It would have been interesting if this psychic angle was what was doubled down on in subsequent sequels, rather than the Nazi material because who knows what fruit that could bear. That feels a whole lot more interesting than just throwing in pint-sized demons and turning the puppets into de facto heroes. These deaths are all well executed and high in the gore department.

That voice is further accentuated in truly shocking deaths like the initial Leech Woman leech expulsion. This kill is a pretty big deal and put together in a very impressive fashion. I think that ultimately Puppet Master 4 gets a worse reputation than it deserves. Rick Myers is also a worthy addition to take on the mantle of puppet master, too. This whole demon mythos dominates a lot of these pictures though and basically, these tiny totem demons are there to act as puppet-sized foes for the puppets to annihilate rather than humans.

This was never an aspect that felt missed in the series though, and it comes off as being pretty cheesy. The giant demon, Sutekh, rings more silly than menacing, which is kind of a crucial detail. He looks like a rejected Beetleborgs villain, which is simultaneously awful and wonderful. Lasers and lightning are all over the place here. Puppet Master 5 very much feels like the second-half of Puppet Master 4 , with this one picking up right after the events of the previous film with Rick in a police station getting grilled over the murders from the past film.

Flashbacks are used to fill in much of the previous film in a very clunky way. The film is based around the idea of exploring how a young Andre Toulon learned Egyptian to do the spells necessary to achieve his puppet work. These are killer puppets! No one cares about the rest! I guess I like the idea of mummies being the proto-puppets, but this same sort of concept is played within Puppet Master III with the experimental Nazi zombies that are created, ultimately making this feel like more of the same.

Retro Puppet Master takes its time to dig into young Toulon while fleshing him and his relationships out. The film almost tries to play itself off as a humble romantic comedy between Toulon and an impassioned fan, weirdly enough.

We even see Toulon and Elsa you know, the woman who would become Leech Woman meet for the first time. It just repeatedly feels like this is a movie that wants to be anything other than a horror film. The film also chooses to frame itself as some sort of bedtime story that Toulon is telling his puppets in the present, which is so ridiculous, it kind of works.

Unfortunately Retro Puppet Master contributes to a wide feeling that nothing really happens—and in the boring way, not the mockingly fun way—with there being very little pay-off behind it all. You barely remember that there are deaths in this. This effort is still a pale shadow of what the original films were all about. The puppets then team up with a group of Allied Operatives with superpowers as they vow to end this Nazi threat once and for all. It heavily leans into both the Nazi angle, as well as the supernatural magic power direction that Puppet Master play around with.

However, Axis Termination really embraces the camp here and basically creates a supernatural Avengers of sorts, each with their own psychic powers like telekinesis or a voodoo priestess, none of which exactly makes sense, but it at least has fun with all of this instead of wading through dour Nazi imagery. That being said, this film deserves some credit for its insane choices like its syringe glove that would likely even give Freddy Krueger nightmares.

A lot of the story here has to deal with Danny and his brother, eager to enlist and fight in the war for their country. Both the Axis and Allies employ a secret group tasked with destroying the other and capturing their puppets. Character outfits are all over the place, and the architecture is completely out of time. The puppet violence is much higher in this movie, which is very satisfying. And leech girl really shines, which is also great to see. But where Axis Termination truly shines is in its ability to be funny and corny while having an equal intensity that delivers when needed.

This movie also explains why the puppets can rebel against a master that they deem as evil. It's well worth the watch for Puppet Master fans, as long as they can stomach the low-budget aspects of it.

Like most of the other films in the series, this one can be found on Tubi in the US. The original, the one that started it all, is a wild ride that plays out like a fever dream at times. Puppet Master has become a must-own for many horror buffs. This movie follows a group of psychic investigators all hunting for the secrets of Andre Toulon and fellow psychic Neal Gallagher. Secrets about Toulon and the psychics are revealed as each person tries to uncover some truth to the muddled secrets hidden at the Bodega Bay.

Known for its dark tones and haunting musical scores, Puppet Master helped create one of the greatest direct-to-video franchises in horror history.

Puppet Master 4 combines science, magic, and the underworld in this 2-movie storyline. It is by chance that one of these researchers is also the caretaker at the now rundown Bodega Bay inn. The puppets and Toulon himself come to his aid as the totems begin killing all those around him. The melding of the sci-fi and occult in this film goes over well, with just the right amount of cheesiness expected from a Puppet Master film. The acting in this one is a high point, and the characters are given enough backstory for the viewer to feel for them.

While Puppet Master 4 may seem like a strange direction for the series to take, the film helps to build what is one of the biggest showdowns in the entire series.

It can be found on Tubi for those interested in seeing how the filmmakers originally planned on ending this series. The Final Chapter is the often underappreciated gem in the Puppet Master series. Following directly after Puppet Master 4 , this movie keeps all the same actors and actresses, making the transition between films the most fluid of them all.

The Final Chapter has it all: love, death, sorrow, happiness, puppets, and even demons. The dark and dreary settings that Puppet Master is known for make another grand appearance as the puppet master and his puppets must do battle with Sutekh himself.

The effects are surprisingly well done and, while cheesy, do stand up to the passing of time. The use of puppets and practical effects in this film are key to its success. Many of the films following this one were lesser in quality, which was a shame. This is another one that can be watched for free on Tubi.

The Littlest Reich is the movie that throws most everything from any of the other films right out the window. If the viewer can look past the entire mythos being changed, they can see that The Littlest Reich is an insane movie. This film is a fantastic and over the top ride that proudly stands side by side with the best Puppet Master movies.

For best enjoyment, go into the film with open thoughts. Graham , Tom Sandoval. Votes: 1, Not Rated 86 min Action, Comedy, Fantasy. Danny and Beth must battle the Nazis after they use the puppets' life-giving serum to create a race of immortal soldiers, as well as some Nazi puppets. In a soldier and a special division of psychics working for the American military must use the help of Andre Toulon's puppets to infiltrate a secret Nazi headquarters and put an end to the evil experiments being conducted there.

Votes: R 90 min Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi. Psychics find themselves plotted against by a former colleague, who committed suicide after discovering animated, murderous puppets.

Votes: 10, R 88 min Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi.