Puppet Master: The Legacy

Plot synopsis:
The film begins with a rogue agent, Maclain (Kate Orsini), in one of the rooms in the Bodega Bay Inn, reading Toulon's diary, hoping to find some secret to the formula. The diary bursts into flames. As Maclain enters the basement, she finds a man named Eric Weiss (Jacob Witkin) talking to the last Toulon puppets: Blade, Pinhead, Jester, Tunneler, and Six Shooter. Eric explains that he knew Toulon before he died, and that he swore he wouldn't pass it to anyone else. Maclain threatens Eric with a gun. Eric then takes out a tape recorder, and plays a recording that Toulon left him.
Cut back to present day, Eric reveals that his real name is Peter Hertz, the boy who was saved by Toulon in Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge. After the conversation, Maclain, stressed out, shoots Eric in the knee, knowing he knows more about Toulon and his puppets' bloody legacy, such as Toulon's suicide. Eric believes that Toulon only killed those who deserved to die. Maclain, however, brings up the subject of the murders that happened with the parapsychologists in Puppet Master II. After the argument over whether Toulon was good or bad, Maclain still threatens to shoot Eric with the gun. Eric tells her that the puppets fought a war that was a hell of a lot tougher than anything they ever known, and then he plays another tape recording of Toulon, which tells about Sutek's attempt to steal the elixir formula to kill the Puppet Master.
After the recording finished, Maclain tells Eric that she knows everything about Rick, because before she came to the hotel, she went to Rick's house where she found Toulon's diary. When Rick didn't cooperate to give up the diary, she shot him and his friends four times and took the diary with her. Seeing that there's one last recording, Maclain threatens him to play it. The recording talks about how there's always someone discovering Toulon's secret, even after his supposed death, always someone who didn't fully understand what a gift, or a Curse...the formula for the puppets really was. After the recording, Pinhead throws a mallet at Maclain's head and Eric shoots her in the heart with her own gun, for trying to take over the puppets. Maclain, minutes away from death, explains that's not what she wants, and she tells Eric that when the puppets brought Toulon back to life, he resumed his final experiment, the one he started before he committed suicide: Soul Transference.
Maclain then explains that she's not here for the secret of bringing the puppets to life to sell it to the open market, she's there to know what makes them die for good. Maclain finally explains: Toulon and ALL of the Puppet Masters that followed in his footsteps created immortals, souls trapped in wooden bodies, living every day in agony, wanting revenge on their Puppet Master, whose title now belongs to Eric. After explaining, Maclain drops dead on the floor. Eric hears something behind, turns around, and sees the immortals that the Puppet Masters have created (off-screen). He points the gun at them and pulls the trigger. Then a note appears: The producers would like to thank all the cast and crew that helped make the Puppet Master series a tremendous success over the years, ending the series with the puppets themselves to fight off the Puppet Masters' unholy creations.

Tags: flashback

Review:
A cheap, sloppy mess, "Puppet Master: The Legacy" is the second-worst entry in the series, and a fundamentally flawed, "clip-show" of a film with no originality....
I'm thrown for a loop trying to think of how to write a review for Charles Band's 2003 film "Puppet Master: The Legacy." I actually, honestly cannot think of a way to summarize it.
I grew up watching copies of the earlier "Puppet Master" movies behind my parent's backs (they didn't approve of the gore until I was a teenager), so when I recently got the "Puppet Master" box-set as a nostalgic gift from my father, I popped this one in, thinking it would be an interesting film.Oh...
god.Words cannot describe this movie."Puppet Master: The Legacy" is essentially a 15-minute long short film, that is padded with about an hour of footage from the previous films, as a character explains the plot of the series to another person.
Those lame episodes where the producers would run out of money and just string together a series of clips from prior episodes, with a lame bookend scene of the characters recalling the old clips?
This movie is one of those!And what makes it even sadder- the "story" that is used to string together the clips is one of the most poorly written, insanely plotted and hilariously cheaply-shot "plots" I've ever seen.The abundance of old footage actually serves two purposes, to actually be fair.
One- for the reason I stated above, to give the producers fodder to release a new DVD of this awful clip-show, and Two- to try and fix a few continuity problems that existed within the series.
So disrespectful to the fans.)The plot of the new footage is this- a man named Eric Weiss (unknown actor who we'll never hear from again) is captured by some rogue agent chick named Maclain (unknown actress who we'll never hear from again) who forces him to tell her the story of the puppets from the movies.
It looks like it was filmed on an 80's VHS camcorder, the lighting is abysmal, there is no real set-decoration or design to speak of, and the acting is hilariously bad.As a fan of the series, this film just felt like a cheap, cash-grabbing insult.
(Yet somehow isn't as bad as the pain-inducing "Puppet Master VS Demonic Toys." Saw that once about five years ago, and it still makes me angry.).
The Puppet Master movies were among the best movies ever produced by Full Moon Entertainment in the early 90s.
The movies were of good quality but when Full Moon's budget started to be lower, the movies' quality went downhill, with bad effects and awful scripts.
To end quickly, the Puppet Master storyline was a chaos with the only things that tied the movies together were the Puppets and its original master, Andre Toulon.
So Charles Band, the mind behind most of Full Moon Entertainment successes and failures gives us "Puppet Master: The Legacy" as a way to fix the problems of the series and finally putting an end to his beloved story.In "Legacy", we find Peter Hertz, the boy who as child during World War II was helped by Andre Toulon and escaped with him from Nazi Germany.
In the Bodega Bay hotel he found Toulon's notes and his beloved Puppets, but he was found by a mysterious woman named Maclain (Kate Orsini) hired to find the Puppets and Toulon's secret.The movie follows a discussion between the two of them, remembering Toulon and his actions since he learned the secret of life, until his death and rebirth.
While Weiss remembers Toulon as a great man whose life was destroyed by the Nazis, Maclain knows him as a mad psycho who enslaved the puppets.The movie works very well in terms of giving sense to the storyline, trying to fix the enormous plot holes the series had.
To do this, the movie uses clips from all the Puppet Master movies, although this has to do more with the fact that it had almost no budget than with a creative decision.The new material (barely 30 minutes) is well acted, and in fact is better acted than most of the acting in the series.
It really shows how hard Band tried to fix his most successful series, as the clips from previous movies are very good edited, and work better than watching the entire awful movies (clips from Parts 4, 5 and Retro Puppet Master for example).
We also get to know the fate of characters from all the movies, as they are mentioned in the conversations between Maclain and Weiss.As a fan, watching the movie was kind of sad, because it was very obvious that this was a desperate attempt to fix a series that has been badly damaged over the years; nevertheless, the effort is very appreciated, because it finally gives a fitting conclusion to Full Moon's best selling movies.30 minutes and clips of previous movies is not my idea of a good movie, but this movie is definitely a must see for every fan of the Puppet Master series.
There are hardly any new material and just of a man remembering the old movies.The result is a complete mess of clips without proper story line.
The whole point of this movie must be to get some fast money from the fans of the series without making any effort.There is just nothing here for anyone.
I you never seem a Puppet Master movie go see another one.I would recommend Puppet master or Puppet Master 3 - Toulon's Revenge as a starting point for this series..
This movie is a great way for the series to finally end.
Personally I wish Puppet Master Vs. Demonic Toys would finally be made but the way this movie ends they basically say "This is THE final movie in the series...".
And this was about one woman trying to stop the new puppet master because I would have never guessed that the puppets would be in pain.
Plus it showed some of the puppet master series that I didn't see and I what to see it so badly like part two.
It also showed little aliens from part 4 that was also cool, it showed other people episodes that might be good to them and it did.So thanks to this Puppet Master is going to be a big hit..
Puppet Master - The Legacy is basically a clip show of the previous movies which came before, so if you have seem them, you can skip this and don't miss anything new, except maybe 5-10 minutes of two people talking in a cellar.
Everything else is really just one big lazy as can get clip show so many series and sitcoms are doing to fill an episode to save money.But even if you haven't seen the previous movies, I wouldn't recommend it.
I actually stopped watching the films after this, and I liked the first three or five, they weren't very good, but charming and had some good stop motion animation, but they were getting worse, and this one is really one of the worst and laziest movies I ever saw.
The charm and puppeteering art of the Puppet Master movies is not to be found in "The Legacy"..
Puppet Master Legacy.
The problem with Legacy isn't the fact that it the majority of it shows all the past movies with a very small subplot.
It's not a good movie at all, the eighty percent of old scenes were boring and the new twenty percent were highlighted with a couple of horrible acting and more questions than answers.
Since this is chronologically the last movie in the series I'm looking forward to the possibility of a franchise rejuvenation in the near future..
Puppet Master: The Legacy (2004)I don't think I ever seen a series, well they only added 5 news scebes, in to one movie and run old flashback most of the movie.
Well I have only seen half of this movie, I could it not find it on DVD, Youtube had it but half the part was taken downThe only think i can say about this movie, If I saw this first , there would be no need to see the ones before.This movie added nothing new to the series at all, it just show you want to already knew.
Attempting to acquire the truth about the puppets, an agent interrogates one of the last known survivors of the legendary puppet masters' work and learns of their grisly history as to how they came into being as well as their history together, ultimately forcing a final showdown with them.This was one of the worst films ever made.
This is essentially a clip show of everything we've seen for the series up until the present, attempting to retcon the franchise into a cohesive storyline which is the only apparent purpose of this one.
There was quite an odd tone to this one as well due to the different types of films being covered which not only gives this quite a cheap look but also wildly chaotic and disjointed tone that really doesn't make much sense as there's no real connection to how this one goes back and forth between any of the films, and with a lame final stinger it makes no sense as for what the legacy actually is since everything is wrapped up in such a lame manner.
Despite it being constant puppet action and a fast-paced story, overall there's little need to watch this one at all.Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language..
Remember when I said 6/7 may be the weakest entries to the franchise/series of the Puppet Master?
On the other hand, maybe this is sufficient and you don't need to watch all the previous entries to get you up to speed before the next three installments formed a trilogy that could've been shortened and was too long for it's own good and also kind of feels like a cash in?
Puppet Master: the Legacy: The Strings Have Been Dropped For This One. I am being honest when I say that I enjoy the Puppet Master films.
In fact, if Puppet Master 3 was the zenith, then this film is the nadir.
I used quotations because The Legacy isn't really a movie, per se, but a series of clips of stock footage from previous films framed by 25 minutes of new footage to form a pointless new story.
But if you're one of those sloths, then I pity you, because this Puppet Master is not seeing the series at its best.
Puppet Master: The Legacy (2003) 1/2 (out of 4) Ultra-cheap eighth entry in the series starts off with a woman taking Eric Weiss (the boy from PUPPET MASTER III) hostage and demanding him to tell her the secrets of the puppets.
From this point on we start a whole string of flash backs to earlier films in the series with constant "looks" at the present time as the woman becomes more and more demanding.
No, that honor goes to this installment, which runs 74-minutes and being generous I'd say that at least sixty-minutes are nothing more than clips from the previous seven movies.
Die-hard fans might enjoy seeing a cut down version of the previous movies with a few new scenes added in but to me this is about as cheap as you can get and I really see no reason to applaud the cheapness of a film like this.
The only reason I could see this film being important is for those people who aren't really interested in the series but want to see what "story" all of the movies told.
Instead of seeing the previous seven movies you could just watch this thing and get the general idea of what the series was about.
Unlike watching the previous seven movies in order, this one here would at least allow you to see the "story" in chronological order.
Since the series jumped around so much none of them were in order so the clips here are as followed: RETRO, PM3, PM, PM2, PM4, PM5 and then CURSE.
THE LEGACY is an ultra-cheap film that's only purpose was to milk an already dead series.
Puppet Master: The Legacy features a woman named Macclain (Kate Orsini) who has been hired to discover the secret behind puppet master Andre Toulon's (played by actors Guy Rolfe & William Hickey who is in the film & not just the trailer as the IMDb would have you believe) serum that manages to give life to his inanimate wooden puppets such as Blade, Tunneller, Six Shooter, Torch, Leech Woman, Pinhead & the cool Jester who each become living killing machines ready to protect their creator.
Macclain breaks into Toulon's final resting place Bogeda Bay Inn where she finds Toulon's old friend Eric Weiss (Jacob Witkin) & threatens to torture & kill him unless he hands the secret over, as the two argue the truth about Andre Toulon is revealed as his entire life & the events surrounding his killer puppets are told...Directed by Charles Band under the pseudonym of Robert Talbot Puppet Master: The Legacy is the eighth & to date final film in the Puppet Master franchise that started with the excellent Puppet Master (1989) all those years ago, the series carried on with Puppet Master II (1991), Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge (1991), Puppet Master 4 (1993), Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter (1994), Curse of the Puppet Master (1998) & finally Retro Puppet Master (1999) before this instalment which went straight to video in '03.
Courtney Joyner under the pseudonym of Gene Yarbrough tries to tell the tale of Andre Toulon in chronological order & make some sense out of it unlike the series as it stands at the moment & is basically an excuse to use as much footage from the previous seven Puppet Master films as possible, Puppet Master: The Legacy features clips from all of the previous entries.
The clips are reasonably well edited into into a new film, there are a few sudden jumps in logic & location, there are numerous occasions where character's just come & go within the space of a few minutes & it's a bit choppy as you would expect a 70 minute film made up from seven other films would be.
I was going to start this comment by saying that I was a fan of the Puppet Master films but then I realised I have only seen the first two which I thought were both great, unfortunately judging by some of the footage from the other sequels the series obviously went downhill in a big way.
I must admit I rather liked Puppet Master: The Legacy, they at least keep things moving, the clips used are good, I've only seen the first two so most of the footage was new to me anyway & rather surprisingly the twist ending was rather good, in fact I'd go as far as to say it was pretty clever (hell, I doubt there are many instances in any Puppet Master film you could describe as clever) & was a nice way to round things off.Director Band doesn't do anything as there's hardly any new footage here, what is here is reasonably well shot & there are some OK shots of the puppets.
The puppets themselves are cool & probably the best bunch of killer toys ever to grace the silver screen!The budget stretched to one room, some scientific lab equipment & the services of two actors, that's all there is to Puppet Master: The Legacy.
The acting was alright.Puppet Master: The Legacy isn't for everyone that's for sure as most of it is just footage taken from the other Puppet Master films.
However I quite liked it as I really like the first two in the series, the killer puppets themselves have real character & personality & are some of the best & most memorable seen in this type of film & if you like the Puppet Master series & know what your getting yourself into then I'd say it's worth watching but probably not worth buying as you'd only want to watch it once.
The problem is instead of answering some questions such as why Toulon was out of character in part 2 and what Curse of the Puppet Master was about.
Hopefully now that Full Moon is back on it's feet the Puppet Master series will return to the glory days of the excellent parts 1-5.
Unlike most though, I thought retro puppet master was cute, yet nothing great.
Yes, one was released in 2008 and the other in 2012.The best guess possible is that production problems struck but the studio still had to put out a film as per contract, so a Quick story was put together to try and plug the gaps until the later films would eventually be realised.As such, this film is one giant Spoiler!!!What makes me think that the Later movies were in production but put on hold?
Well, having watched them in chronological order - Some "Post Production" effects are missing from some of the cobbled together scenes, as well as some small dialogue changes.Compared to the last movie, the editing is far, far better...
Continuity wise its hard to know where this actually fits in the series as once again it seems to ignore events of previous films in the franchise...
But at least its not as badly edited as Curse of the Puppet Master.Random Irritations:The stolen scene from one of the old Sinbad Movies...Some of the cobbled together Post Production scenes give a little too much away about the inner workings of the film...
You can actually hear the small explosive charge used to shatter a window!!!A scene boarding a train taken from another entirely different Movie.Random Superb Moments: Revisiting the far superior Puppet Master 3: Toulon's RevengeSo, this is rightfully the LAST in the series, regardless of what the Wiki says...