My "Puppet Master" movie marathon eventually lead me to sit down and watch the 1998 movie "Curse of the Puppet Master". And sitting down here in 2023 to watch it was actually my first time to watch this particular movie in the franchise.
But I have to admit that I was dreading that the franchise would be on an irrevocably downward slope since the rather disappointing fourth movie. But still, I opted to sit down and watch the movie, as I was doing a marathon after all.
Writers Neal Marshall Stevens and David Schmoeller managed to turn "Curse of the Puppet Master" into a young adult romantic drama. Sure, there were some murderous puppets in the movie, but they were hardly the main focal point of the storyline. So the franchise definitely is suffering with inadequate writing ever since Charles Band dropped out of the creative writing, and it show, especially with "Curse of the Puppet Master".
Most of the puppets were barely on the screen, just popping up for a short show of hand to show that they were still around. And that was also disappointing.
The acting performances in the movie were a bit wobbly. Some of the talents, or lack thereof, on the cast list were putting on wooden performances. But hey, I suppose that was perhaps some in-theme-character-quirk after all. Not a single familiar or even semi-famous name on the cast list for this disappointing 1998 addition to the "Puppet Master" franchise.
Visually then "Curse of the Puppet Master" was adequate, and that was helping to keep this young adult romantic drama sort of afloat.
The ending of the movie was one of the most abrupt and anti-climatic endings of a movie that I have sat through in a long, long time. Talk about a slap to the face with a cold dead fish.
"Curse of the Puppet Master" was a disappointing movie experience to say the least. And my rating of director David DeCoteau's 1998 movie lands on a three out of ten stars.
But I have to admit that I was dreading that the franchise would be on an irrevocably downward slope since the rather disappointing fourth movie. But still, I opted to sit down and watch the movie, as I was doing a marathon after all.
Writers Neal Marshall Stevens and David Schmoeller managed to turn "Curse of the Puppet Master" into a young adult romantic drama. Sure, there were some murderous puppets in the movie, but they were hardly the main focal point of the storyline. So the franchise definitely is suffering with inadequate writing ever since Charles Band dropped out of the creative writing, and it show, especially with "Curse of the Puppet Master".
Most of the puppets were barely on the screen, just popping up for a short show of hand to show that they were still around. And that was also disappointing.
The acting performances in the movie were a bit wobbly. Some of the talents, or lack thereof, on the cast list were putting on wooden performances. But hey, I suppose that was perhaps some in-theme-character-quirk after all. Not a single familiar or even semi-famous name on the cast list for this disappointing 1998 addition to the "Puppet Master" franchise.
Visually then "Curse of the Puppet Master" was adequate, and that was helping to keep this young adult romantic drama sort of afloat.
The ending of the movie was one of the most abrupt and anti-climatic endings of a movie that I have sat through in a long, long time. Talk about a slap to the face with a cold dead fish.
"Curse of the Puppet Master" was a disappointing movie experience to say the least. And my rating of director David DeCoteau's 1998 movie lands on a three out of ten stars.