Now the legacy can be told (Again)

Puppet Master (8) The Legacy
2003 | Color | 1 hr 20 min | Horror | R | Full Moon Features

Director: Charles Band

Writer: C. Courtney Joyner

Stars:

Jacob Witkin

Kate Orsini

As a young boy, Eric Weiss was saved from a grim fate at the hands of Hitler's SS by a kindly toymaker named Andre Toulon. Fascinated with the toymaker's seemingly supernatural ability to breathe life into his carefully crafted figurines, Eric spends his entire life attempting to unlock the secret behind the toymaker's magic. Just when it seems that Eric may have perfected the ability to create artificial life, a rogue agent named Maclain breaks into his lab and tortures the new puppet master in hopes of extracting the valuable secret.

Time itself seems to stand still as the present meets the past, and the bloody legacy of the murderous puppets is revealed in an act so shocking that it may destroy the very souls of all involved.

Puppet Master: The Legacy is the eighth film in the Puppet Master franchise, the sequel to 1994's Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter, and stars Jacob Witkin as an elderly Peter Hertz (a character who appeared as a child in Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge) and Kate Orsini as a mercenary hired to confront Hertz for information regarding the magic puppeteer Andre Toulon used to animate his puppets. And they are the only two in this movie. How or why you ask well let me tell you. This is yet another flashback PM movie. It took two viewings to watch this one the first time I fell asleep the second time I fast forwarded through the old stuff and watched the new stuff.  

The bright spots of this movie are easily Hertz and Orsini, of course, Band has once again brought us a very good looking cast and yet another soap opera star in his movie. (does he pay somebody to sit outside those lots in Hollywood and beg them to be in his movie? If so bravo he is on to something.) Hertz will be known by Full Moon fans as Gramps from the Evil Bong series as well as Gargoyles that both of them went on to do after this one. 

So sadly when I say this is a flashback-filled movie it is just that. You get the two actors with new material for maybe ten minutes the rest gets you up to speed with the other movies. This would be ok but because I have been watching them in order over the past few months this was just plain old dull. But for someone that has not watched PM in a while, it might be worth checking out. If you have never watched one do not start here it is not worth it. 

Just a few side notes this was the first Puppet Master that Charles Band directed and writer C. Courtney Joyner wrote the fan favorite Puppet Master 3. This was also the first movie produced by Blockbuster Video under the banner of Shadow Films.

As of today, you can catch this movie on Full Moon Streaming or Hulu if you must. As for me this was a snooze fest but do not let that stop you if you're interested like I said the new parts are very well done. 

2 Bloody Brains out of 5