In 1988, fans met Chucky in theChild’s Playslasher movie, but around the same time, another scary toy movie came out that deserves more love than it gets. InChild’s Play,a serial killer named Charles Lee Rayuses dark magic to send his spirit into a Good Guy doll after a shootout with police so he can live on in the doll and seek revenge against the people who betrayed him. This was so popular that it spawned a franchise thatincluded sixChild’s Playsequels, a reboot, and a television series following the original movies.
One year afterChild’s Playproved successful, another movie franchise about demonic toys began. This series had a similar setup but was based on an even darker origin.Just like inChild’s Play, people used dark magic to bring the toys to life,but in the case ofPuppet Master,this was the work of Nazis during World War II. What resulted was even bigger than Chucky,receiving 14Puppet Mastersequels, including a crossover with theDemonic Toysseries.
Why Puppet Master Is Perfect For Fans Of The Chucky Franchise
The Movies Have The Same Humor & Themes
BothChild’s PlayandPuppet Mastertellhorror stories about killer dolls brought to lifeby using black magic. However, both movies are so beloved because they mix just as much humor into the story as they do horror. Charles Band is a film producer who made his name in horror comedies. His most successful franchise included tiny killers with theGhouliesfranchise. Four years after producing the first film in that series,he took on new tiny horror killers withPuppet Master.
The Puppet Master story starts in 1939 when an alchemist named André Toulon (William Hickey) has a suitcase full of living puppets. The goal is for these puppets to kill potential rivals for an evil magician named Neil Gallagher (Jimmie F. Skaggs). The main film’s story takes place 50 years later and follows a group of psychics who find themselves the target of these evil puppets. What madeChild’s Playso great was Chucky himself, as well as Tiffany in later movies. That is on display here as well with the puppets.
Blade and Pinhead are the only puppets to appear in every movie in the franchise.
The puppets include a drill-headed bellhop (Tunneler), a pin-headed brute (Pinhead), a knife-wielding slasher killer (Blade), a harlequin with changing faces (Jester), and a ballerina who vomits leeches onto victims (Leech Woman). Of these, Blade and Pinhead are the only puppets to appear in every movie in the franchise, making them the Chucky and Tiffany of this series. Much like theChild’s Playseries, these puppets all possess the spirits of real people who all want revenge against the world for their untimely desires.
Puppet Master Deserves Its Status As A Cult Classic Horror
The Franchise Remains A Gory & Fun Horror Series
In the end,Puppet Masternever received the acclaim nor the fame ofChild’s Play. It might be becauseChucky came out a year before Blade and his friends, but there is also the fact thatPuppet Masteris not as good asChild’s Play.Despite that,Puppet Masterhas everything a horror movie fan couldwant from a cult classic. It has a lot of gory moments, realistically even more than theChild’s Playmovies. It is also just as scary, with as many jump scares as anyChild’s Playsequel.
WhilePuppet Masterisn’t as popular asChild’s Playand more people know Chucky than all the puppets combined, there have been many more movies in thePuppet Masterseries. Sadly, like theHellraiserseries, this also means there were more bad movies for the puppets than for the Good Guy doll. Then again, they did something Chucky never did and that is teaming up with another franchise,with theDemonic Toyscrossoverproving that it has the status to remain a lasting cult classic.
Puppet Master
Cast
Puppet Master is the first film in the Puppet Master franchise and was released in 1989. Directed by David Schmoeller and starring Paul Le Mat, the film sees an array of murderous puppets that are being controlled by a psychic trying to take vengeance on his associates.
