Puppet Master 2

1990 Directed by Dave Allen

Horror Marathon Day 8 Film 13

Ghost Hunters investigate the murders at the Bodega Bay Inn- which stands like a huge haunted coastal castle. They sense of the space is that its psychic energy is evil too- but the hotel itself isn't shown off enough to become more menacing. The puppets from the first film have become animated again found their maker's grave to dig him up.

As with the first film it leans into the characterizations of the puppets to really drive forward the action- blood is spurt by a drill headed puppet and the investigators find the body of the puppets have a whole human like system. The puppet maker has quite the overdone accent- leaning into the cartoony violence of the film. To that end it never feels very scary- more slapstick drips of blood or burning people alive. The puppets need human remains to make goo to continue to “live.”

I suppose that's part of the charm here- the characters and music are pretty corny. Unfortunately the investigators aren't equally as weird as it could help balance the zany mischief of the killer dolls- so their grief feels like a different movie. The film's pacing could have time for more cheezy kills because of that too and push the bonkers scenario. Because of the limited ability of the dolls they tend to be a bit repetitive - the humans are able to overpower the puppets, but generally I like how they are each different and carry some cute/creepy factor. The ending works well enough too- with some of the puppets taking revenge when they're betrayed. It's decent low budget thrill.