Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter (the actual on-screen title on my copy was just Puppet Master 5) starts with boy genius Rick Meyers (Gordon Currie) at a police station being interrogated over the murders of Dr's. Baker & Piper as well as his mate Cameron (who were all killed in Puppet Master 4 (1993)), the evidence against Rick is strong & he is charged with the three murders. Fellow Omega scientist Dr. Jennings (Ian Ogilvy) reads Rick's outlandish statement about living puppets & senses the opportunity to make a bundle of cash so he takes along three guy's to help him break into the Bogeda Bay Inn & steal the puppets for himself. Meanwhile Rick gets out on bail & heads for the Inn to get the puppets in order to help clear himself & the evil ancient Egyptian God Sutek still wants to kill Rick & destroy the puppets & sends yet another little monster to do just that.
Billed & planned as the final Puppet Master film this was the fourth straight sequel to the rather excellent Puppetmaster (1989) & was in fact filmed back-to-back with the previous entry Puppet Master 4 & as such features a lot of the same cast, crew, locations, props & special effects as well as having a story which follows on directly from the events of the previous film. Again directed by Jeff Burr & written by the same five(!) people responsible for Puppet Master 4 this is a disappointing entry in what was a fantastic series of horror film up to & including Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge (1991) & you can see why the series has died a death if you compare this with the earlier entries. For a start the plot is all over the place, at first it directly contradicts Puppet Master 4 as the reason for Sutek wanting to kill Rick & destroy the puppets is because he wanted to protect the secret of life that Toulon had stolen from him but at the start of Puppet Master 5 it is said Sutek wants to kill Rick & destroy the puppets to learn the secret himself before reverting back to the premise of Puppet Master 4 for the final twenty minutes. Then there's the odd plot hole which states that Sutek can't travel between dimensions yet where did all the creatures he sent in Puppet Master 4 come from? The body count is again far too low, several of the main character's from Puppet Master 4 return including Lauren who manages to psychically control computers while she is in a coma! Also what happened to the murder charges against Rick? Did the police just forget about them? Again the once cool killer puppets don't kill anyone, aren't evil & generally are portrayed as the heroes which to me is just all wrong & evidence the makers wanted to tone things down for a newer & younger audience. Although the duration of the film is just over 80 odd minutes there's a fairly long compilation of footage from Puppet Master 4 to act as a recap or to fill those in who haven't seen it.
After his absence in Puppet Master 4 the cool puppet Torch makes an appearance here as does Blade, Jester, Pinhead, Tunneller, Six Shooter & the new puppet Decapitron. They are still very cool & the film picks up whenever they are on screen but not much is done with them & they don't get to be evil anymore which just doesn't sit right with me. The special effects are alright, there are less of them than in Puppet Master 4 & a lot less stop-motion animation. Like Puppet Master 4 the violence, gore & nudity of the excellent first three Puppet Master films have been reduced to virtually zero, there's a few cuts seen on someone's face & a bit of blood splatter & that's it. If not for some strong profanity this would pass as a PG. The final fight between the Sutek creature & the puppets looks a bit silly & like the sort of thing your six year old kid brother would set-up & stage with his Star Wars figures.
Like Puppet Master 4 the Bogeda Bay Inn scenes are well lit & shot but the rest of it looks cheap & Sutek & his liar look absolutely awful & feel like they belong in a different film (for some reason the actor playing Sutek is not credited in either Puppet Master 4 or 5). The acting is OK, the two girls from Puppet Master 4 barely feature this time around while British veteran actor Ian Ogilvy brings a bit of class to things.
Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter wasn't the final chapter at all although considering how poor it is & what the makers have done with a once great franchise it maybe should have been. Followed by Curse of the Puppet Master (1998) & you know a series is in trouble when the makers stop numbering them...
Billed & planned as the final Puppet Master film this was the fourth straight sequel to the rather excellent Puppetmaster (1989) & was in fact filmed back-to-back with the previous entry Puppet Master 4 & as such features a lot of the same cast, crew, locations, props & special effects as well as having a story which follows on directly from the events of the previous film. Again directed by Jeff Burr & written by the same five(!) people responsible for Puppet Master 4 this is a disappointing entry in what was a fantastic series of horror film up to & including Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge (1991) & you can see why the series has died a death if you compare this with the earlier entries. For a start the plot is all over the place, at first it directly contradicts Puppet Master 4 as the reason for Sutek wanting to kill Rick & destroy the puppets is because he wanted to protect the secret of life that Toulon had stolen from him but at the start of Puppet Master 5 it is said Sutek wants to kill Rick & destroy the puppets to learn the secret himself before reverting back to the premise of Puppet Master 4 for the final twenty minutes. Then there's the odd plot hole which states that Sutek can't travel between dimensions yet where did all the creatures he sent in Puppet Master 4 come from? The body count is again far too low, several of the main character's from Puppet Master 4 return including Lauren who manages to psychically control computers while she is in a coma! Also what happened to the murder charges against Rick? Did the police just forget about them? Again the once cool killer puppets don't kill anyone, aren't evil & generally are portrayed as the heroes which to me is just all wrong & evidence the makers wanted to tone things down for a newer & younger audience. Although the duration of the film is just over 80 odd minutes there's a fairly long compilation of footage from Puppet Master 4 to act as a recap or to fill those in who haven't seen it.
After his absence in Puppet Master 4 the cool puppet Torch makes an appearance here as does Blade, Jester, Pinhead, Tunneller, Six Shooter & the new puppet Decapitron. They are still very cool & the film picks up whenever they are on screen but not much is done with them & they don't get to be evil anymore which just doesn't sit right with me. The special effects are alright, there are less of them than in Puppet Master 4 & a lot less stop-motion animation. Like Puppet Master 4 the violence, gore & nudity of the excellent first three Puppet Master films have been reduced to virtually zero, there's a few cuts seen on someone's face & a bit of blood splatter & that's it. If not for some strong profanity this would pass as a PG. The final fight between the Sutek creature & the puppets looks a bit silly & like the sort of thing your six year old kid brother would set-up & stage with his Star Wars figures.
Like Puppet Master 4 the Bogeda Bay Inn scenes are well lit & shot but the rest of it looks cheap & Sutek & his liar look absolutely awful & feel like they belong in a different film (for some reason the actor playing Sutek is not credited in either Puppet Master 4 or 5). The acting is OK, the two girls from Puppet Master 4 barely feature this time around while British veteran actor Ian Ogilvy brings a bit of class to things.
Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter wasn't the final chapter at all although considering how poor it is & what the makers have done with a once great franchise it maybe should have been. Followed by Curse of the Puppet Master (1998) & you know a series is in trouble when the makers stop numbering them...