- Directed by Jeff Burr
- Written by Todd Henschell, Steven E. Carr, Jo Duffy
- Stars Gordon Currie, Chandra West, Ash Abrams, Teresa Hill
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 19 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_jD8vGlvzM
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This was a soft reboot, taking many elements from the first three movies but not really continuing from number three. They bring in demonic elements to liven things up and new young people. The puppetry is a little better than the previous efforts, plus it’s short and gets right to it without a lot of filler. Overall, we were entertained.
Synopsis
Sutekh, the leader of the underworld, declares that the secret that Andre Toulon stole many years ago is about to be rediscovered. “We must send our children to protect it. The power is ours, and ours alone; it must remain.”
We cut to a car arriving at “Biotech Industries” at night in the rain. Stanley, the security guard, takes the package from the stranger and carries it up to Dr. Piper. She talks to Dr. Baker about the success of their latest robotics project. They’re both waiting for Rick, the “Boy Genius” of the company.
Paper opens the box, and inside is an ugly doll that looks like a demonic skeleton. The power goes off, and the little doll kills her. Down in the underworld, Sutekh and his cultists absorb her power, as does the demon doll.
Meanwhile, at the hotel on the cliff that we’ve seen before, the Bodega Bay Inn, Rick answers the phone. He has the Blade doll from the previous films sitting on the shelf next to him. He’s built a pair of small robots with which he plays laser tag. They don’t work very well, so he shuts them off. They have no original thought or simulated life, which was his goal.
Dr. Baker, at the lab, gets a package delivery. It’s that same doll from Piper’s lab. He calls Rick, who denies having sent it. He ends up just like Dr. Piper.
Susie, Lauren, and Ash ring the bell, and Rick lets them all inside. They have dinner together as someone small watches. Blade looks out the window and sees Andre Toulon outside. Susie finds Blade, and Rick tells her that it’s a mechanical doll that he found in the room when he moved in as caretaker.
Lauren finds something and faints. It’s a locked box, and she says not to open it. She’s a “channeler,” a psychic. They spend a lot of time trying to get the box open and inside are several more of Toulon’s puppets and notebooks. They soon figure out Toulon’s story and the plot of the third film. They find Pinhead, Tunneler, Six Shooter, and they already had Blade. Susie then finds the secret formula. Mark injects several of them with the serum.
They do, in fact, wake up, much to Cameron’s surprise. Rick thinks Toulon may have the solution to the Omega Project that he’s been working on. Meanwhile, Sutekh says everyone there must die!
They wake up Jester next. The power goes off, so Cameron and Lauren decide to go to bed. They fret and fume over Cam getting shafted by Rick, who doesn’t deserve his success. Cam wants Lauren to channel Toulon so that they can have a conversation.
Rick hooks up his laser tag weapons to Tunneler and Pinhead, and they have a play shoot-out. The doorbell rings, and someone has delivered a small wooden box.
Lauren tries to contact Toulon, and the table splits open, releasing several of those demon dolls. Cam and Lauren don’t explain anything but leave immediately. Rick laughs about “evil spirits.” Outside in the car, the demons kill Cameron.
Inside, the Toulon dolls know what’s going on and see one of the demons. Rick and Susie find the delivered box, but the doll inside has broken out. Lauren runs back inside, and Rick goes out to find Cameron’s corpse. He also sees one of the demon dolls. Blade and Pinhead hold one down while Tunneler runs him through.
Down in the underworld, one of the red-eyed creatures withers and dies. The puppets hear Toulon’s voice: “Decapitron: his time has come.” The dolls pull out another box that Rick and others hadn’t seen before. Inside is a whole new puppet, the Decapitron, which they animate with lightning while simultaneously electrocuting another of the demons.
The Decapitron’s head turns into Toulon, who explains about Sutekh, who wants to kill him. Toulon explains to Rick that he’s very close to discovering the secret of life. Meanwhile, Susie pours acid on another demon.
Mark starts up the generator and he and Susie work to get the Decapitron to finally wake up. It finally wakes up, and all the other puppets clap. The Decapitron then removes his head.
A demon opens the door and comes in. The Decapitron puts on a different head, and this one is heavily armed. He shoots lightning at the little demon doll, eventually blowing him apart. The Decapitron puts the humanoid head back on.
Down in the underworld, Sutekh roars in defeat; he’s all outta demons.
Toulon appears again and passes the torch to Rick, whom he calls, “Puppet Master.”
Commentary
It incorporates many things from the previous films, but doesn’t really continue the story of part 3. This is a whole new “rebirth” for the dolls. The stop-motion in this one is pretty good– it’s still stop-motion rather than CGI, but they’re clearly getting better at it.
They animate a bunch of little puppets, the most miraculous thing ever, and half the group decides to go to bed?
The acting is fine, the animation is good. The story itself isn’t all that innovative, but it does continue the fan-favorite franchise. Overall, I liked it.