Franchise Review: Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge (1991)

 

Most of the time, it seems like the third film in a particular series is much weaker than the previous installments. The series loses its momentum, or maybe gets too distracted by backstory. In the case of Puppet Master, though, this is exactly what the series needed, and the third film - Toulon's Revenge - actually ends up being a bit better than both of its predecessors.

In Berlin 1941, puppet master Andre Toulon is sought out by the Nazis who want to utilize the same magic he uses on his puppets to bring dead soldiers back to life to use on the battlefield. Headed by Major Kraus, a group of Nazis arrive at Toulon's workshop to kidnap him, shooting his wife Elsa in the process. Toulon manages to escape and promises revenge on all those responsible for the death of his love.

First of all, yes, there are some major timeline issues established here. Toulon commits suicide in the first film in 1939 - a couple years before this film takes place. Not sure how they could have missed that one, but they did. Also, just before Toulon kills himself, he is working on creating Jester, and Blade seems like the established leader of the pack. However, in Toulon's Revenge, Jester already exists and Toulon does not build Blade until near the end of the film. I don't have an explanation for either one of these oversights except laziness or just outright not giving a shit and thinking audiences wouldn't notice.

These problems actually don't end up being that big of a deal, really. I liked the rest of the story presented here, mostly because it further explained an important part of the franchise's mythos, and because the characters and acting were surprisingly good. Though I didn't know their names before looking into this film and only recognized their faces, it was nice seeing actors like Richard Lynch as Major Kraus and Ian Abercrombie as Dr. Hess in Toulon's Revenge. They help bring better substance and realism to characters that otherwise might have been kitschy or campy - this goes for the new Andre Toulon as well, who is wonderfully played by Guy Rolfe. He's very different from William Hickey's Toulon in the first film, but still portrays him as a kindly old man who probably never would have used his "friends" for violence had not grief forced him to.

The story aspect that I quite enjoyed here was the fact that all of the puppets actually used to be people that Toulon knew in his life. This was touched upon in Puppet Master II, but it's given heavier meaning in part three because most of these people were victims of the Nazis. This is also true for Toulon's beloved and supportive wife Elsa when it is revealed that her spirit actually resides in the doll known as Leech Woman. To me this seems almost a little disrespectful to have his wife be quite possibly the grossest of all the puppets, but who knows? Maybe it's something they discussed previously. But probably not. Anyway, two other puppets - Jester and Pinhead - are the only other puppets that are given a backstory so far: two normal people struck down by the Nazis. Toulon fashions Blade to resemble Major Kraus, but does not actually put his soul into the doll. Blade is already animated during Kraus's death scene, so that confused me a little bit as to who he is really supposed to be.

The puppet featured most prominently in Toulon's Revenge is actually a new one (new to the series, but not new to the wonky timeline) - Six Shooter, the Wild West cowboy with six arms each holding a gun. I love his huge grin and flair for spinning all his guns at the same time. He has some good scenes, like when he's scaling the side of a building, and then later in the scene when he shoots General Mueller and sends him flying out the window. How those tiny guns could actually do any damage is anybody's guess. Maybe it has to do with the magic. Tunneler, however, gets to commit the best murder of all when he is in the car with Toulon and two Nazis after they have kidnapped him and Tunneler tunnels through the back of one of the Nazis seats and all the way through his body in a wonderfully bloody fashion. Nice! Major Kraus's death is also nicely elaborate and well done, when Toulon and the puppets spear him with hooks and ropes and suspend him from the ceiling - making him a human marionette - and then make him fall back to the ground right on top of a huge axe. The puppets themselves are puppeteered very well when they are in motion, and though the animation they use a few times is a little jerky, it's not horrible. Better than the previous film, at the least.

This is so weird, I'm actually really getting into these movies now, and I totally did not expect that. Puppet Master is not the greatest series of films so far but it's definitely getting better and it's definitely interesting. Toulon's Revenge is the best out of these first three, mostly because it does not have uninteresting and unimportant characters to follow and not care about. The story seems to work best when it is directly focused on Toulon and his puppets, so hopefully the latter movies will follow this same formula.