Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich is a 2018 horror/comedy film about a strange force who animates the puppets, setting them on a bloody killing spree that’s motivated by an evil as old as time.
The Puppet Master series is one of those horror franchises you might have heard of from time to time, but probably never realized it started way back in 1989 and is now thirteen movies deep. Obviously, it’s not high end stuff, the films low budget and almost purposefully cheesy in telling stories of sentient puppets who run the gamut from monsters to the occasional good guy. With The Littlest Reich, we’re back in the fray, with a host of gruesome mayhem and general goofiness that is played just as such, leaving this a sometimes creative entry if not, ultimately, underwhelming.
After a heady start (set in 1989) where a couple of young women in love meet their gory end, we jump to the present and meet comic book artist Edgar (Thomas Lennon), a sour down-on-his-luck fellow just divorced. He learns of a convention to remember the Toulon murders 30th anniversary, looking to celebrate the sordid past of one Andre Toulon (now played by Udo Kier) and his gaggle of puppets. Edgar owns one of these puppets, found by his younger brother decades before at a sleepaway camp. He brings along his new gal pal Ashley (Jenny Pellicer) and his boss/friend Markowitz (Nelson Franklin) to the auction, hoping to make the trip a bit of fun. However, that’s all put on the back burner when once again, the possessed puppets take to the slaughter of hotel guests, all under the rule of their maniacal master.
It’s worth mentioning that the screenplay is by S. Craig Zahler, who wrote the brilliant and terrifying Bone Tomahawk (2015), a film I felt was one of the best movies of that year. As such, I had high hopes for The Littlest Reich, and while it’s not nearly on the same page as Tomahawk, there are hints to Zahler’s style all over the screenplay, most especially with it’s tempered plotting that creeps along with uneasy reserve until springing in chaos. Naturally, a series like The Puppet Master offers far more opportunities for black comedy than a brutal Western nightmare, what with its menacing wacky Nazis and well, you know, alive puppets.
Directed by Sonny Laguna and Tommy Wiklund, there’s actually not all that much out of the ordinary for this genre of horror, the film sticking to its roots with a few spins here and there that allows – for those hoping as much – a rekindling of the series. It’s meant to be in-your-face and aggressively offensive (the first murders occur because the victims are lesbians), and with a deranged Nazi as your antagonist, there’s sure to be plenty of runs to get absurdly dark, many early victims targeted for being Jewish or otherwise considered inferior by the relentless Toulon. This is meant to be off-putting, but most often it’s just too obvious and uninspired, even if you can’t help but feel a nostalgic pull to old school horror movie making.
Loaded for bear with truckloads of gore and nudity once it kicks it, The Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich is low budget nonsense, designed be so, embracing its 90s direct-to-video murder mayhem and practical visual effects with aplomb. For that, it has its charms, most so for fans of old horror and tongue-in-cheek slaughter. Otherwise, it’s simply one more volume in a long series that, like most of its ilk, rinses and repeats.