Puppet Master: The Legacy Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		3.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.0

Puppet Master: The Legacy Blu-ray Movie Review

Puppet Master: The Highlight Reel.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman October 13, 2017

Here it is, easily the most controversial and oft-decried entry in the otherwise popular and enjoyable Puppet Master series. This is, essentially, a compilation film, one that's been assembled predominantly by clips from the other films in the franchise, built around a very loose story in which one character, at gunpoint, tells the tale to another. That's it. There's ample opportunity for criticism; the hardcore fan base has certainly said its peace, calmed down, shrugged the shoulders, and hopefully moved on, or moved back, as the case maybe, ignoring this attempt and enjoying the films not in scattered and chopped fashion as they're presented here but rather as they were otherwise meant to be seen, in their entirety, allowing the story to play out within the confines of its real films, not in condensed highlight reel fashion.

Here's Full Moon's own shot at a plot summary, courtesy of the Blu-ray packaging: The 8th and strangest entry in Full Moon's venerable 'Puppet Master' franchise, 'Puppet Master: The Legacy' is a fascinating look at the mythology of the series, featuring a wealth of intense scenes from classic 'Puppet Master' movies and an all new, intense framing story. The film tells the tale of Eric Weiss (Jacob Witkin) who, as a boy in World War II Germany, was rescued from a grim fate at the hands of the Nazi's by kindly toymaker Andre Toulon. Fascinated by Toulon's supernatural ability to breathe life into his carefully crafted figurines, Weiss spends his entire life attempting to unlock Toulon's methods but, just when he's on the cusp of creating a living doll, a rogue agent named Maclain (Kate Orsini) breaks into his lab and subjects the apprentice puppet master to untold tortures in order to steal his secrets. Time itself seems to stand still as the present meets the past, and the bloody legacy of the lethal puppets is revealed in a mind-bending freefall into 'Puppet Master' mayhem. All your favorite characters - Blade, Pinhead, Tunnler, Six-Shooter, Leech Woman, Cyclops and more - appear in this innovative, pulse-pounding Puppet Master fan favorite that also features the finest of composer Richard Band's iconic music cues.

That's basically a drawn-out way of calling the film what it is, and give Full Moon credit for using words like "strange" and "framing" and phrases like "time itself seems to stand still as the present meets the past" in an effort to not necessarily hide what the movie is, but at least acknowledge it without saying "yes, it's a compilation film." The film, under the "direction" of Charles Band pseudonym Robert Talbot, cobbles together a very loose story about a new Puppet Master and a woman with the aim of killing him and taking his secrets. The film intercuts between clips of, essentially, her with a gun to his head and him in front of a tape recorder, and by way of that tape recorder telling the story of the Puppet Master saga in bits and pieces, a highlight reel, essentially, that does showcase the key moments but without the much greater context and narrative elements the complete films have on offer. But the scattered nature of it all is only going to confuse and confound newcomers as the narrative slips all over the map, between actors and timeframes. The movie, then, is only going to work for hardcore fans who already have a firm grasp on franchise lore, and it is ironically that fan base that is going to turn on it, spew vitriol and wonder what possessed Full Moon to release a film with no discernible purpose. Sure there's an effort to slightly expand on the franchise, but whatever nuggets of new material the film gets right, it loses to an ambiguous ending and no further expansion since. So there's no market for the movie and, sad to say, no reason to watch it, either, unless one just wants to scan through some scattered clips from the franchise.

Puppet Master: The Legacy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Before playback, the Blu-ray presents the following text: Note that 'Puppet Master: The Legacy' master is presented totally uncut in HD using the original 35mm negative but, due to the fact that some of that negative was lost over time, the original SD release and Digi-Beta videotape master were also used in order to fully restore the film. This release stands as the definitive version.

That puts Puppet Master: The Legacy in the same position as Retro Puppet Master and Curse of the Puppet Master, cobbled together from various sources of differing qualities and base resolutions. Ironically, it's the "new" material, i.e. the scenes between Maclain and Weiss, that present most substantially in a state of lesser quality, where poor detailing and color, jagged edges, and so on mark the content that's been upconverted from standard definition. Most of the rest of the film looks fine, reflective of the Blu-ray transfers from all of the films this one uses as its sources. Largely filmic, mostly pleasing grain, quality details, good colors, honest black levels...what's of true 35mm source looks fine, what's been brought over from video, not so much. But as Full Moon points out, this is the "definitive version" of the film and outside of a miracle discovery of the source elements probably the best the movie is ever going to look.

Puppet Master: The Legacy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Puppet Master: The Legacy's Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack curiously reads as Dutch on the Blu-ray info screen, but it is presented in its native English language. No subtitle options are available. The presentation wavers between good and adequate. Spacing is never consistent. Music occasionally finds a wide, healthy richness but at other times it's more subdued and focused in the middle with less pronouncement beyond. Clarity likewise fluctuates between healthy and a bit stinted. Action scenes never offer prodigious depth, whether fights and struggles, screams, or gunshots, but a serviceable baseline is present. Dialogue is suitably clear and center focused.

Puppet Master: The Legacy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Puppet Master: The Legacy contains a recycled featurette and a collection of trailers.

• No Strings Attached (480i, 7:11): Billed as "The first Puppet Master featurette," this one explores the core idea behind the franchise. It was also included on the first Puppet Master's Blu-ray release.
• Trailers: Evil Bong 666, Ravenwolf Towers, Puppet Master, Puppet Master 2, Puppet Master 3, Retro Puppet Master, Puppet Master 9, Puppet Master X, Puppet Master 11, and Specters.

Puppet Master: The Legacy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Puppet Master: The Legacy's only real legacy is the derision it's received from the fanbase. A film made almost entirely of scenes from previous films and its new content a loose and lame framework for a compilation film, it's certainly a disappointment at best and best left forgotten at worst. That said, the Blu-ray is worth owning from the standpoint of collection completion, with the obvious caveat that fans who own the other movies more or less own this one, too. The tech presentation is nothing special, and it's ironically the "new" material that's been lost over the years and presented in upscaled standard definition. Supplements are comprised of a recycled featurette and some trailers. Recommended only to the most hardcore of franchise fans who just have to own 'em all.