Puppets Attack!

I'm getting close to be done with the reviews from the screenings this last weekend. I posted a review over at Top Horror Movies Club for the movie Chillerama, which turned out to be my favorite of all the screenings. Check it out when you get the chance. After the second screening Saturday, I went out and got the autograph I told Dawn I would get, plus I checked out the line for Anthony Michael Hall. It was real short so I got in line for him. He is a super nice guy. I also got an autograph from Alex Winter, who is also very nice. I loved him in the movie Freaked. I didn't have much to do Sunday, but there was two screenings to go to. The first one was called The Puppet Monster Massacre (2010). Writer/director Dustin Mills was there to talk about his movie.

Charlie (Ethan Holey) gets a letter one day offering him a million dollars if he can spend the night in a house that is supposed to be haunted. Unknown to him, but he quickly finds out, others have also been given the letter. There is Gwen (Jessica Daniels), who Charlie likes but is too afraid to tell her. Raimi (Dustin Mills), a film geek who is always trying to hit on the women. Iggy (Bart Flynn), a punk rocker, and his girlfriend Mona (Erica Kisseberth), who wasn't invited but shows up anyway. They all head to Wolfgang Wagner's (Steve Rimpici) house, who is an Nazi scientist who has engineered a monster. In needs something besides bunny's to eat though, so Wagner has gathered together the lowest life form known to man: teenagers.

The Puppet Monster Massacre was done using, if you haven't guessed yet, puppets. Dustin Mills said that he made the film for about $3,000, with his mom making all the puppets. This was his first film, and he has hopeful plans on a sequel that will be bigger. Mills also said that he grew up watching things like the Muppets, so wanted to do something in that vein. I admit that it took some getting used to, see puppets in a horror movie. Despite the puppets though, The Puppet Monster Massacre is not for kids. There is plenty of jokes about sex and even some puppet nudity, along with a real woman shown on TV. The backgrounds looked like they were done with CGI, or possibly paintings for some shots. I have read some reviews that complained about the backgrounds, but I liked them. To me they gave the puppets their own little world, and helped set the mood of the movie. The only complaint I found about the backgrounds is that when they were the main focus and the camera was moving across them, it would look choppy. It wasn't real bad, but noticeable. The story itself was fun, and I liked the characters. Raimi was probably my favorite, getting scared by any little thing.

Another review talked about how he would have liked to seen stuffing come flying out when something bad happened to one of the puppets. While this would have gone better with some of the jokes made in the film, there was something about seeing blood squirting out that appealed to me. The voice over work was well done, but there was times I thought the lines came a little too rushed.Someone would be talking and change the subject all in one breath it seemed like.

Even though the run time is only 70 minutes, The Puppet Monster Massacre was starting to wear thin towards the end of the movie. Some of the jokes were starting to run on a little too long and getting old. Still though, I enjoyed it. For the budget that was put in, Dustin Mills does a great job with it. As Mills pointed out, it is a movie to laugh at and poke fun at. Worth checking out if you can find it out there. Oh, if Dustin Mills's mom should happen to read this, great job on the puppets!
3 out of 5 I wonder if I would make a cute puppet