Puppet Master III: Toulon’s Revenge (1991) (4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray REVIEW)
Director: David DeCoteau
Starring: Guy Rolfe, Richard Lynch, Ian Abercrombie
RATED: UR/REGION 0/1:85/2160p/NUMBER OF DISCS 2
AVAILABLE FROM Full Moon Features
After hearing that Andre Toulon’s puppets have no strings but rather seem to have a life of their own, Dr. Hess, a Gestapo henchman during WWII, sends the Gestapo to the theatre to kidnap them. During the melee, Toulon’s wife Elsa is killed and Toulon is whisked away by the Nazis. However, on the way to headquarters the puppets attack the Gestapo and escape with Toulon. Now Toulon begins to plan his revenge. He creates a new puppet, SIX-SHOOTER, models BLADE after a pasty-faced Nazi, and uses Elsa’s essence to create LEECH WOMAN. Now Toulon’s army is ready to get even and take revenge.
So let’s just ignore all the plot holes the entire series has when you link each film together in the same universe. Let’s do that because as a stand-alone film, (or we can at least say 3-5 happened in the same time-line) you could be shocked to learn that Puppet Master III is actually a very well made and perfectly acceptable film. Made on a big studio lot, Puppet Master III tends to go down in history as the very beast Puppet Master movie ever made and I think most people will be very happy to agree. Naturally, why not start here when putting Puppet Master on 4K? From a story side of things, we get more of a backstory to the original Puppet Master and we learn how some of these puppets came to be. We also get the puppet known as Six Shooter, which tends to be a favorite among most Puppet Master Fans. On top of what I’ve already said is a very good plot for this film. That’s something this series tends to lack a lot of along the way, but I’ll be damn if this film didn’t give us an interesting plot that not only is interesting but it was shockingly compelling. It’s the good hearted Puppet Master going to war along with his puppets against the evil Nazis! This also keeps the puppets on the good side of the bad/evil line a whole film before it became official! So the bi-polar ways of our puppets have gone out the window, and I have to admit it’s ten times better that way. Richard Lynch also plays a hell of an evil bastard in the Major Krauss character. A character that would go down as the inspiration for the making of another puppet everyone seems to like a whole lot. So the thing is, these films will never be award winning films, but that being said this film rivals part 4 as the best in the franchise. And having two films back to back that are actually good is always a good thing (obviously), one could say Full Moon was on a bit of a roll at his time, and Puppet Master III was a prime example of it.
It should not shock anyone to hear that the new 4K release of this one is by far the best this movie has ever looked. If you still prefer the Blu-ray over this, then you’ll be happy to know that you will also be getting a Blu-ray to go along with the 4K disc. You also get the same extras that you got on the old Blu-ray release. This also comes with a nice slipcase. I can only hope we see the other Puppet Masters (for better or worse as they are) come out with at the very least the same love with the transfer and the slipcase. They will all at least look good on the self together even if some of those films are miles below what part III here brings.
Extras
- Audio commentary by writer C. Courtney Joyner and director David DeCoteau
- Behind the Scenes of Puppet Master 3: Toulon’s Revenge
- Original Puppet Master 3 Videozone
- Vintage Puppet Master Action Figure Commercial
- Puppet Master Trailers
