Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

Puppet Master X: Axis Rising Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 24, 2015

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Full Moon dominated parts of the 1980s and 1990s, cranking out plenty of great little low-budget gems built on the backs of passion for the medium and the know-how to pull off the near impossible: good-to-great movies in unassuming packages. Movies like Trancers and Puppet Master dazzled in the skill of maximizing simplicity and focusing on character growth and narrative detail, avoiding most of the low-budget, rushed-to-production pitfalls of so many of their peers. Now, in the digital age when making movies is easier than ever before, Puppet Master X: Axis Rising shows a steep decline in quality to the point that a beloved franchise feels almost as if it's been taken over by The Asylum, a studio that prides itself on quick and dirty moviemaking rather than the care and craftsmanship that defined Full Moon's best efforts back in the studio's heyday.

Picking up where Puppet Master: Axis of Evil left off, the film sees Danny (Kip Canyon) and Beth (Jean Louise O'Sullivan) regrouping with several puppets -- Blade, Leech Woman, Jester, and Pinhead -- and mourning the capture of Tunneler. They're grabbed by Army agents and paired up with Sergeant Stone (Brad Potts), assigned to protect them while they await awards from the Army for their efforts in the war, all the while keeping the puppets a secret from their verbose and sexist watcher. Meanwhile, a Nazi officer named Moebius (Scott Anthony King) and his attractive sidekick Uschi (Stephanie Sanditz) are fixated on a plan to reanimate the dead with the help of an elderly, and still somewhat compassionate, doctor named Freuhoffer (Oto Brezina). Will his creations lead to Nazi supremacy, or can a few good American heroes -- and their living puppets -- save the world from total Nazi domination?

If big-breasted Nazi bimbos, puppet cat fights, and long stretches of nothing sound like a fun time at the movies, by all means pick up Puppet Master X: Axis Rising, because the film will surely entertain. Fans in search of some new puppets -- Blitzkrieg, Bombshell, Kamikaze and Weremacht -- in action will also enjoy the movie, at least in spurts (there'a always the convenient "chapter select" option and the "fast forward" button on the remote control). Otherwise, the movie proves a terrible, awful flop with very little going for it. Bad acting? Check. Poorly defined and generically constructed stereotype characters? Check and check. Clumsy scenes, poor pacing, laughable dialogue, too much filler, and too little puppets? Check, check...check. It's pretty much checkmate for the Puppet Master series, unfortunately, a series that's as beloved as any low budget Horror franchise in existence that has succumb to the temptations of the easy way out, completely forgetting everything that made Full Moon's flagship franchise so successful back in the day. There's still life in here, somewhere, but beyond a miracle of a next movie it may be time for fans to start writing off a bonafide classic series to the graveyard of misappropriated franchises.

Puppet Master X: Axis Rising Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Puppet Master X: Axis Rising does feature a solid 1080p, MPEG-2 transfer. The digitally photographed motion picture translates well enough to Blu-ray, but expect that classic flat and lightly glossy look about it. Details are fine but not quite as sharp and precise in every scene as they might could be. Facial and clothing textures range from adequate to excellent, while puppet details -- notably in close-ups -- are outstanding. Colors are rich and balanced, evident particularly in brighter scenes, though darker, danker shots inside Freuhoffer's laboratory are also true. Black levels hint towards a slightly paler shade in a few shots, but flesh tones appear accurate across the board. Minor aliasing seen on Beth's checkered dress creeps up a couple of times, as does very light background noise. Overall, however, this is a strong, albeit somewhat flat by nature, video presentation from Full Moon.

Puppet Master X: Axis Rising Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Puppet Master X: Axis Rising arrives on Blu-ray with a Dolby Digital 5.0 (not a typo) soundtrack. It offers adequate musical clarity and spacing but not the sort of lifelike transparency the score deserves. Surround speakers are frequently engaged with music, but not to any sort of excess, instead providing a nice counterbalance to the front elements. Ambient effects are minimal. Gunshots are purposeful but not potent, while a few other heavy effects, such as waves of electricity zapping around the stage, are nicely integrated if not somewhat lacking in raw energy and volume even at reference level. Dialogue is usually even and accurate, save for an evident hollowness to Beth's voice in a couple of early film sentences.

Puppet Master X: Axis Rising Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Puppet Master X: Axis Rising contains a "Videozone" featurette and previews for other Full Moon titles and film lines.

• Official Trailer (1080p, 1:37).
• Videozone (1080i, 27:45): This is the first "Videozone" in many years. Charles Band discusses Videozone's history prior to moving on to a making-of for Axis Rising. The extra examines Band's direction, building and operating the puppets, cast and characters, and the cast's thoughts on what their own unique puppet might be like. The piece ends with a 10-minute sit-down with Special Makeup Effects Artist Tom Devlin.
• Killer Montage (480i, 1:52): Select clips from the Puppet Master franchise.
• Grindhouse Preview (1080i, 0:37): A montage preview for Full Moon's Grindhouse collection.
• Full Moon Trailers (1080p): Puppet Master, Puppet Master 2, Puppet Master 3, Castle Freak, Zombies vs. Strippers, Skull Heads, Puppet Master: Axis of Evil, Killjoy Goes to Hell, and Reel Evil (Teaser).

Puppet Master X: Axis Rising Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's a shame to see the plunge in quality in such a beloved franchise, and with the equally underwhelming Puppet Master: Axis of Evil showing the same signs of lame, it appears that the series is quickly approaching the point of losing its charm, where simply re-watching earlier entries will prove a wiser choice than sampling Full Moon's latest puppet-centric wares. Puppet Master X: Axis Rising is a flat, purposeless movie that, other than returning some old favorites to the screen, hardly seems like a true Puppet Master movie, clearly sacrificing the tight, detailed structure and obvious passion for the filmmaking process that made the early movies so terrific in favor of cheap, quick, and thoughtless moviemaking. Puppet Master X: Axis Rising's Blu-ray release, courtesy of Full Moon, features solid video, passable audio, and a few supplements which are highlighted by one of the studio's latest "Videozone" featurettes. Recommended as no more than a rental for hardcore franchise fans; newcomers are encouraged to go back to the beginning and pretend that this latest installment (along with Axis of Evil) doesn't exist.