After the release of Puppet Master X: Axis Rising in 2012, there was a renewed interest in Charles Band’s catalog. In addition to the launch of his streaming service, many of Band’s Empire Pictures catalog was getting rereleased. Companies like Shout Factory, 88 Films, and Kino Lorber were putting out blu-ray releases of From Beyond, Dolls, and Transformations. In 2015, Band signed a deal with the El Rey Network to broadcast Full Moon’s movies, starting with Puppet Master. Around the same time, Band announced a new entry in the series that would end the Axis Trilogy. Filming began in 2016 at Full Moon’s studios, though additional funding was provided through IndieGoGo, which totaled over $90,000. As an incentive, backers could have small parts, and El Rey ran a contest to be killed by the puppets. With help from the fans, Puppet Master: Axis Termination was released in September 2017.
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Synopsis
After Danny (Kip Canyon) and Beth (Jean Louise O’Sullivan) are murdered, the puppets are taken by Captain Brooks (Paul Logan). Brooks is given a special assignment from General Kip Hansard (Allen Perada) involving a group of psychics and puppets. The psychics are led by Dr. Ivan Ivanov (George Appleby), his daughter Elisa (Tania Fox), and Georgina Vale (Alynxia America). Meanwhile, Doktor Gerde Ernst (Tonya Kay) has taken control of the Nazi puppets: Bombshell, Blitzkrieg, and Weremacht. Ernst has been experimenting with help from Sturmbanfuhrer Steiner Krabke (Kevin Scott Allen) and Oberhelfer Friede Steitze (Lilou Vos). She’s found a way to extract more of the serum needed to keep the puppets alive and fighting. As Brooks and the Psychics fight the Nazis, Blade, Pinhead, Tunneler, Jester, Six Shooter, and Leech Woman fight the puppets. With the fate of the free world at stake, who will emerge victorious?
Review
Given that this was supposed to end the Axis Trilogy, it’s disappointing how lackluster Puppet Master: Axis Termination is. It’s not as bad as Puppet Master: The Legacy, but that’s not saying much, considering it was a clip show. For one, it’s disappointing that they took the previous films’ two leads and killed them off at the beginning. They’re not even given a proper send-off, but instead, they get gunned down in the street before the opening credits. Thankfully, the new characters introduced aren’t terrible, but it would’ve been nice to give Danny and Beth some closure. Some hastily added digital effects, especially the CG blood spray, also took me out of the movie. That bugs me because fake blood is easy to make, and they used real fake blood here. Considering this is the bloodiest entry, they may have run out of corn syrup and food coloring.
The acting ranges from halfway decent to primarily flat, though there are a few standouts in the cast. Tonya Kay is easily the best part of the movie, playing her role as wickedly and devilishly as possible. Kevin Scott Allen also does a decent job as the psychic agent of Doktor Ernst, and Paul Logan makes for a solid square-jawed hero. The puppet effects are decent, though there are odd moments where they add people in costume on green screens. Seeing the puppets move weirdly fluidly makes me miss David Allen’s stop-motion work from the older movies. The pacing drags even at an hour and fifteen minutes, and the whole film feels anticlimactic by the end. It’s excellent that Full Moon got the fans involved in making this, but it’s disappointing how this finale turned out. Overall, Puppet Master: Axis Termination isn’t awful, but it’s not great, either.
Buy Puppet Master: Axis Termination on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3U17uDn.
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