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Late to the Party: Puppet Master (1989)

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Puppet Master

Welcome back to another weekly edition of Late to the Party, the review series where iHorror writers finally get around to watching horror classics that have admittedly flown under our own personal radar. This week, I watched Puppet Master.

Puppet MasterĀ is a 1989 direct-to-video cult classic that somehow spawned eleven sequels (with a twelfth currently in production – written by S. Craig Zahler ofĀ Bone Tomahawk andĀ Brawl in Cell Block 99 brilliance… frankly, I’m shocked).

via IMDb

In the film, a group of psychics collect at the home of an old colleague after they are summoned for vague reasons that I admittedly wasn’t paying close attention to. Their recently departed colleague, Neil, had been working with them to find a method of giving life to inanimate figurines – a technique supposedly created by the Egyptians.

After a suspicious radio silence from Neil, the psychics gather to “settle the score” and – of course – discover a deadly collection of unique dolls. Then things get messy (as they are wont to do).

via IMDb

This may be a controversial opinion, but really the only parts of this movie that actually held my interest were the killer puppets. Everything else was pretty “meh”. Actually, I’m going to assume that’s probably not outlandish considering that’s kind of the point of the whole franchise, right?

The puppets are certainly (somehow) effective at their murderous goals. This is – admittedly –Ā  somewhat strange since they don’t look particularly menacing or strong or capable. It’s hard to find them genuinely frightening or threatening (aside from the fact that they move on their own and one pukes out live leeches).

via IMDb

The puppets are a little silly (predictably, surely) and their design is a wee bit baffling at times. That being said, I understand that the subsequent films (many of them prequels) flesh out the character designs of each puppet.

I certainly respect that dedication to build the characters of each puppet, but it doesn’t help the absurdity of seeing the toys out of context. When you’re starting a film with no franchise in mind, it’s something you should probably be mindful of.

Overall, I found the film to be underwhelming. I had high hopes, given the wild popularity of the franchise and its now iconic puppet characters (particularly the “leader” puppet, Blade).

via IMDb

While Puppet Master is by no means a great film, I’m glad I finally got around to watching it. If nothing else, it’ll give me a reason to watch the sequels. I get the sense that this is one of those horror franchises that is more than the sum of its parts.

I’m not confident that the sequels are technically better films, but I’m just genuinely curious about the prequels at this point. I want that character development!

via IMDb

I’m also pretty sure the sequels caught on to the actual selling point of the film and decided crank up the puppet presence for an overall more satisfying bloodbath. So, silver linings, people.

 

Keep an eye out for more from Late to the Party, or click here for previous reviews!

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‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

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It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the SĆ©bastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.ā€

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abramsā€™ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turowā€™s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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