The Puppet Masters film series is always been one of my guilty pleasures. It is by no means a series of puppet masterpieces, but it did entertains me, as a kid of the 1990s. Coming off, their success, off of their first two, direct to video, movies, 1989's 'Puppet Master' & 1990's 'Puppet Master II', 1991's 'Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge' is by far, the best film in the series. Directed by David DeCoteau, the entire plot has puppeteer, Andre Toulon (Guy Rolfe), somehow back in Europe, and somehow still alive, despite the fact, that he commit suicide in Bodega Bay, CA in 1939 in the opening of the first movie. While, this might look like, a continuous of the first movie's flashback, in reality, this 3rd movie is not. It's a prequel. It's just the Full Moon Entertainment Writers, goofing up with the chronology, and not caring, about explaining it. Whether by accident or design, in the end, they got their WWII movie with puppets. Anyways, when the members of the Nazi Party, notice that the anti-Nazi, Toulon has the ability to animate his puppets without strings. Dr. Hess (Ian Abercrombie) and Major Kraus (Richard Lynch) are ordered to bring him in by General Mueller (Walter Gotell), leading to Toulon going on the run, while, also seeking revenge for the death of his beloved, wife, Elsa (Sarah Douglas). Without spoiling the movie, too much, I have to say, despite the chronology timeline mistake, Puppet Master III is by far, the most developed movie within the Puppet Master franchise. Not only, does this film essentially, tells some of the origin of the puppets, but the film is full of depth and emotion. You really do feel something for the human characters, unlike the other films that was full of unrealistic psychics & parapsychologists. I have to say, I like this version of Andre Toulon. Guy Rolfe does a decent job, making the character more engaging and sympathetic character than William Hickey and Steve Welles's versions. In their defensive, Hickey's scenes in the first movie, were kinda short to develop anything, and Welles's character was written as the bad guy; however I found Hickey to be, a little too old for the part & for Welles, I just didn't like, his 'Invisible Man', style of acting. The supporting cast was just as good as Rolfe, with Richard Lynch commanding the scenes with his film presence. He really look the part. He always found a way to draw your full attention. Still, his character does do, a lot of stupid decisions throughout the film that will make you question, if his character is really a Major, and not a private. Another thing, I like, about this film, is how this film isn't a rethread of the first 2 movies, with the puppets, just randomly killing innocent people. In this, they had reasons to target the Nazis, as many of the puppet souls, were once people that were victims by them. I like the fact, that they made the Puppets into good guys, since after all, they are appealing. Once again, you got Blade, whom looks like a small version of the Fisherman hook killer from 1997's, 'I Know What You Did Last Summer', whom sadly, in this film, get little screen time. I was deeply surprised, by this movie, that Blade was in fact, a boy. I always thought of the puppet as a female. It also get weirder, when you find out that this puppet has the soul of Dr. Hess in it. Blade looks and acts, nothing like Dr. Hess, at all. The only thing, I can see, is that, both, like to cut people. Even with that, it's a bit of a stretch. One thing, I glad, this movie brought back, is Leech Woman. I always hate, the filmmakers of Puppet Master 2, for trying to kill her character. She's by far, one of the most memorable puppets, Toulon has around. It's also cool to see the Conehead lookalike, muscle man mixed with Addams Family Uncle Fester who punch and strangles people, Pinhead, and the Tunneler that has a drill on his head that drills into people. One puppet that I can care less about is Jester. He's pretty much, useless for most of the series. I honestly, don't know, why, he's there. The same, goes to Djinn whom appearance is a bit jarring. He somewhat disappears, after this film. Anyways, this brings up, another issue. This time, with the new puppet, the fun-looking, Six-Shooter cowboy puppet who was made, just for this film. I get that, he's technically in-story, one of the oldest puppets, that Toulon's owns, but what happen to him, since this film. He didn't appear in the first movie, nor the 2nd. Somehow, in the 4th movie, he reappearance. It's very odd. Anyways, the action scenes with them are quite enjoyable, but I never bought the struggle between man Vs puppets. I just can't see, how people in these film, can't overpower them. Anyways, most of their stop motion movement was always fantastic and creepy, however there are some scenes in this film, that the effects needed some work. Director David DeCoteau does a lot with the little amount of money, he got. Surprising, the set design is pretty good. He manage to recreate Nazi Germany quite convincingly on the Universal backlot for a rather modest budget. Still one thing, this movie really goes, over the top with, is the graphic nudity. Did we really need that much, rather, fan service breast shots? Anyways, I might be a bit biased on that, since big boobs are some of my favorite's things to see. Overall: Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge is a step-up from the other two films, however, it's also marks the highest of highs for this film franchise, as the next couple of films, will not get any better. In the end, this is as good as it gets.

I've been a Puppet Master fan for a long time and if I had to name a favorite this would be it, this is the second movie in the franchise chronologically and gives a great background to Andre Toulon. The acting in this movie is completely flawless with actors such as Guy Rolfe,Richard Lynch, Ian Abercrombie, (and even though she has small screen time) Sarah Douglas you can't go wrong. In Puppet Master 1&2 we saw the Puppets as killers but now with their calm and good hearted master their killing true villainous monsters "the Nazis"! The story is awesome and action packed and serves its purpose well as a VERY entertaining movie. If you're in the neighborhood and see this movie on ebay (it's usually fairly cheap) buy it! Hell, once you get your hands on it your guaranteed to get relentless hours of entertainment!

Charles Band's "Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge" takes the series in an exciting new direction. Although there seem to be story contradictions, the third entry gives viewers the chance to see the events spoken of in parts one and two unfold before their very eyes. The puppets we've come to fear suddenly take a turn towards good as they become tools for taking out Nazi soldiers and officers. For a B-movie, the sets and locations used look and feel authentic.In 1941, a doctor named Hess is attempting to produce a serum that will re-animate dead soldiers to march on the frontline and give cover for the live ones in battle. He hears about a puppeteer named Toulon who uses stringless puppets in his performances. Upon investigating, Hess discovers Toulon has generated a potion that brings inanimate objects to life. Toulon's wife is killed by the Nazis and the puppeteer uses his wooden creations to exact revenge on those responsible for her death.http://contributor.yahoo.com/user/849014/eric_shirey.html

Puppet Master III (1991) ** 1/2 (out of 4) The third film in the Full Moon series is a prequel to the first two and takes place during WW2 as Andre Toulon (Guy Rolfe) is captured by the Nazies after doing a spoof of Hitler. They eventually murder his wife and want him to tell them how to bring life to the dead but instead he and his puppets set out for revenge. For a direct-to-video release I think most people are going to be shocked at how serious the majority of this film is. You're certainly not going to confuse this with SCHINDLER'S LIST but for a cheap, low-budget horror film the thing has quite a bit to say. I was really surprised to see how much drama the movie tries to build up and this includes stuff early on between Toulon and his wife but we even get another subplot about a man and his son hiding from the Nazies. With that said, the majority of the running time this here is just a revenge flick and a pretty good one at that. I thought what really carried the movie was the very strong performance by Rolfe who fits the role very nicely. You really have no problem believing that he's this brilliant man who brought life to these puppets but the character also works when he simply wants to kill those responsible for the death of his wife. I also enjoyed the way the screenplay introduces the puppets this time out and that includes the creation of Blade as well as a new puppet, a six-armed cowboy who of course has a gun in each arm. The death scenes this time are fairly creative, although we get a couple typical gun deaths there's one very memorable sequence early on dealing with a man trying to be brought back to life by the Germans. The gore level isn't all that high but we do get some nudity and brief sexual situations to add to the R-rating. The film was shot for around $800,000 and it certainly looks it in spots. I think it's fair to say that you never once get the feeling that you're watching something that takes place in the 1940s and it's also fair to say that the costumes, sets and locations are all silly looking. However, with such a low-budget the special effects are actually pretty good as it's clear the studio was getting better making the puppets appear to be real. PUPPET MASTER III is certainly the best of the first three movies and it tackles a subject that not too many horror films have dealt with in a serious way.