Who would have guessed that the 13th film in this series would be the best? But yes, 'The Littlest Reich' is by far the best film in the 'Puppet Master' series and you fellow readers can take that for whatever it's worth. Starring Thomas Lennon (RENO 911) this new film is pretty much a complete reboot and makes several drastic changes to the original film series' lore. Andre Toulon (Udo Keir) has been promoted back to the central villain of the series, as a group of people gather at a hotel convention to auction off various puppets only for them to come alive and murder those they deem 'undesirable'.
I know it's hard to believe a 'Puppet Master' film would be even a tiny bit serious at this point in the game, this new sequel really doesn't use the campiness of it but instead goes for a very mean-spirited and dark route that was sorely needed. I know that killer puppets/dolls/toys movies are not easy to make serious or even scary but 'Littlest Reich' at least tries, much like the recent 'Cult of Chucky' and like 'Cult of Chucky', it succeeds at taking this new path. However, the film does suffer from some issues. First off, I like Thomas Lennon and his previous work, but here I didn't feel like he really put much into his role. He's really mopey and always talks in a monotonous tone even during more tense scenes. I felt that his sidekick buddy (played by Nelson Franklin) was a better fit for the role due to his likeability and overall geeky persona.
Everyone else here (including the beautiful as always Barbara Crampton) is mostly just fodder, only being given enough back story to explain just why the puppets are targeting them and little else. But hey, you all came here for the special effects right? Well my fellow gorehound, you'll be plenty satisfied with this one. With the film relying on practical effects, it has some extremely brutal moments that even made me wince. The movie pulls no punches here and just when you think it wouldn't go there, it goes there and doesn't apologize one bit. If you're here for the gore, then you've come to the right place. If you're here for something else, I don't know what to tell you. It's a movie about puppets killing people and that's about it.
The only real problem here is that the movie just abruptly ends while waving an 'obvious sequel' sign on its neck. I've begun to get really frustrated with horror movies that have seemed to have turned this into a new trend and to be honest, it feels a little lazy especially with this film. You don't get the ultimate showdown between Andre, his puppets, and the hero, but a really lackluster albeit surprising climax but still the movie stops a little too short for me personally. But despite the pacing issues, this film was a blast to watch and one I recommend highly if you just like the horror basics. Even if you've never seen one of these 'Puppet Master' movies, I still recommend it due to it's rebooting so you won't find yourself lost. Who would have ever guessed the 13th film would be the winner?
8/10
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