Puppetmaster / Puppetmaster 2 - 1989 / 1990

 Ok ok ok, I was a few years off guessing the years, I guessed 1992 and 1993, but hey, what can I say I am impressed they made this in 1989.

Puppetmaster I have seen a couple of times.  I thought it had at least one known actor, I struggle to remember who I thought was in this movie, but no one is in it, spoiler alert.  The opening film to this series is also like, completely made to have sequels?  Both in the way that is doesn't explain anything but also in the way that it leaves the puppets and company intact.

"Completely unexplained" is an odd direction to have a living puppet movie go in.  It does not work.  Basically old guy Toulon is the puppetmaster and pupper maker, and he has an unknown amount of unexplained living puppets.  They're all minimally malevolent, moreso leaning towards being actively violent.  They follow the twisted will of their strange maker, and the movie follows that.

It's also very slow and has barely any puppets in it until the end.  So, it kinda sucks.  Mostly it is bad actors saying dull lines in overdone cartoonish sets and costumes.  When the puppets are on screen its an obvious highlight, and the kills are fun and imaginative.  But its like a 1.5 out of 5.

Puppetmaster II is obviously done at a higher budget, with the knowledge your audience wants the puppets in it more.  So it answers the call and has more deaths, more effects, more puppets, and more passion.  

The plot is basically Toulon comes back deformed and wrapped in gauze, and he reconnects with his puppets while we get some flashbacks and he works towards...some goal or something.  It's a who cares excuse for fun, and it is.  I give it a solid 3.5 stars.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 - 1986

 After sitting dormant for 12 years, a sequel to the dominant horror movie was finally made.  It eschewed expectation and divided audiences.  Now, my turn.

TCM is one of my favorite horror movies.  Seriously, go rewatch it or watch it for the first time.  The editing, the allusion to violence rather than the vision of violence, it is masterful in more ways than you remember. The soundtrack, I mean everything is just expertly done.  

The sequel was long anticipated and in the meantime I think director Tobe Hooper began to subtly hate the creation he'd made.  Just like George Lucas, I believe these creatives set out with the Intention of subverting the expectation, and honestly...of fucking with their fans.  Tobe Hooper left the horror genre in the dust and decided to lean into a comedic and over the top aesthetic for the sequel, and basically lampoon his own creation while still making the first of many official sequels.

TCM II introduces us to Dennis Hopper, a cop who is scarred from the downfall of the first movie and is planning revenge.  This sequel also introduced us to more of Leatherface's family including Viggo Mortensen, Stretch, The Cook, and of course... the legendary and incredibly divisive Chop Top.  Chop Top exemplifies the film itself in many ways and the difference from the original, and is a lot like the sequel:  overbearing, overdone, exaggerated, and annoying.  Some like him, most hate him.

TCM II isn't all bad...  but it is close to all bad.  There is a long sequence in a radio station that is so annoying and stupid you'll wonder why you're watching the thing.  There is also an abundance of scenes like that one, where the killers are just out, in the daylight, and no one apparently notices them or cares.  Its a really, really stupid movie.

I'm busy, I'm moving, life is crazy as usual.  Blog entries will decrease again.  But, I might watch all 15 Puppetmaster movies....so  there is that.