Puppet Master and Re-visiting a Well-Polished Old Friend: A Movie Review

*This is a review of Puppet Master, which was re-mastered and released this year by Full Moon Features. Also, this is a review from fellow writer Ed Sum.

Full Moon Feature’s Puppet Master is one of those films that have defined a studio, if not a generation of fans. And to see a new DVD release of their seminal product is heartily welcome. This replaces previous releases and brings a few new things like a proper 16:9 presentation and a surround sound track.

But a question many fans will ask is which version should I go with and why? A few may become excited with the re-mastered version, but how many will want this release over European labels, Razor Digital or CMV? These two companies offer a slightly longer print. And only the most demanding of fans will want to see more of Frank and Carissa doing the wild thing, or covet a few more seconds of the cast meeting their untimely end—but does that make or break a film? Well, only if you’re feeling horny for some more gut spilling action.

Quite honestly, the added bits aren’t as tantalizing as one would think. What’s cut is mostly in tightening the material. And when one is concentrating on exploring the new features, the surround track is more of a subtle attempt at giving this older movie a fuller sound. The difference is as clear as the music in the main menu track to that of the movie itself.

Full Moon Features did a reasonable job in updating the product. On a Toshiba 40” REGZA LCD television, the colours looked warm, and the blacks were solidly defined. By bumping up the saturation however, some video noise in the brighter scenes becomes apparent.

This print is as best one could do when transferring film stock into a digital domain. And the only little grudge one can have is to clean up the spots that’s used to transition between film-to-film reels than to leave it in.
Otherwise, for a re-release of a fan favourite, it’s certainly one for the collection. Let’s hope the bluray can only do more justice.

The film reviewed here is available below through Amazon (re-mastered):



Or from Full Moon Direct, found below:

Puppet Master Re-Mastered

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