Puppet Master (1989) on Netflix
R19891h 30mFantasyHorrorSci-FiThriller
Four psychics are contacted by their former colleague Neil Gallagher and meet at the Bodega Bay Inn, where his wife Megan says he has killed himself. Animated puppets stalk them.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb5.5/1014,782 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes43%
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Plot summary
In 1939 the puppeteer André Toulon finishes a puppet named Jester at the Bodega Bay Inn and brings it to life. Two Nazi spies come for his method, and Toulon dies by suicide, hiding his animate puppets in a wall. Fifty years later four psychics gather at the same inn after hearing from Neil Gallagher, a former colleague who had gone silent. His wife Megan says he is dead. Alex Whitaker sees future events in his dreams, and Dana Hadley tells fortunes and locates lost objects. Frank Forrester and Carissa Stamford work as psychic researchers. Neil had been chasing an Egyptian method of animating figures, the same one Toulon found, and the four want whatever he discovered. Dana drives a pin into his corpse to confirm that he is dead.
Cast
- Robin Fratesas Megan Gallagher
- Peter Franklandas Assassin #1
- Andrew Kimbroughas Assassin #2
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Puppet Master (1989)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Kenneth J. Hall and David Schmoeller both said Charles Band did not properly pay them residuals; Schmoeller also said Band never gave him credit for the film, and cited that as the reason he was not involved in its sequels.
- Blade's face and hair were based on Klaus Kinski, whom director David Schmoeller had worked with on Crawlspace, another film produced by Charles Band, and the puppet was operated by five puppeteers.
SPOILER
The blood in the scene where Neil Gallagher dies was dyed green so the film would not receive an X rating.- A six-armed ninja puppet holding multiple swords was cut from the film because it would be too expensive to create; the idea was reused for the cowboy puppet Six-Shooter in Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge.
- Kenneth J. Hall's script originally had flamboyant witches and warlocks investigating a missing friend's death; director David Schmoeller rewrote it under the pseudonym Joseph G. Collodi with J. S. Cardone, turning the witches and warlocks into psychics.
- Leech Woman's mouth was made of foam latex so she could "cough" up a leech, but only three quarters of the mechanism actually emerged from the puppet and a camera cut created the illusion of the leech leaving her mouth.
- In the film, Blade, Jester and Tunneler shared one puppet body, with only the costume, head and hands swapped between shots.
- The film's composer, Richard Band, built its score from synthesizer arrangements of Pino Donaggio's music for Tourist Trap rather than writing new music.
