SPEAKER_02 0:04

He's like, oh yeah, that's great. I love your tiny mouth.

SPEAKER_05 0:12

Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. We are getting tired of experimenting with silly puppets. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack, a total joke, a waste of time, or a slash.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Totally killer, pun intended.

SPEAKER_05 0:32

We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with a perspective we've all gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we tend to fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the Superfly Space Guy Mac.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Ola Mujaches.

SPEAKER_05 0:47

The Gore Lover Alexis. Hey everyone. The cowardly creeper Ryan. Hiya. And the Scream Queen Paris.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

I prefer to think of myself as a nasty bitch.

SPEAKER_05 0:56

We've got more doll action for you this week, but this time it's not about Chucky or his boy Brom's. Before we break out the toys, though, we do have some follow-up.

SPEAKER_03 1:04

We do have some follow-up, Chris, uh, and I'm glad it's not about those fellas because I would not be pleased. We recently reviewed a film called Friday the 13th, part three, uh, and everybody here except for me gave it a slash. Um, I regret nothing though. Uh turns out 29% of our listeners are actually on my side, and only 71% gave the film a slash.

SPEAKER_05 1:25

Only the overwhelming majority. That's fine.

SPEAKER_06 1:27

Yeah, 71% is actually kind of a lot, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_05 1:30

Not in your opinion, just in facts. There's no like illusion here. 71% is the majority.

SPEAKER_03 1:36

I won the election. Stop. We do have some comments from our friends. Tony on Facebook said, a slash, but not a strong one. Harold doesn't wipe his ass. The music is very annoying. Jason grew two to three inches and had time to change clothing. Continuity much? And the first kill with the infamous mask was nice. A slash, poor chick. But his body language as he discards his weapon and walks away looked like cousin Eddie. Many great kills, and I like this group of friends rather than more counselors.

SPEAKER_05 2:04

Yes. And in addition to Michael growing two inches, he also had time for a clean shave.

SPEAKER_03 2:09

You know, continuity isn't uh that movie strong suit, I think we can agree. Um, we also have a comment from Anthony on Twitter who said, This one has sentiment for me. My brother and I would watch this one every weekend on VHS with our father, rest in peace. Seeing part two was like watching a prequel because I'd only seen three, so that was fun seeing the events leading up to three.

SPEAKER_06 2:28

That's awesome. I'd love to see or love to know if Anthony's seen four, or probably which I'm sure he has, but I'm interested to see when we review it what his opinions are if he has.

SPEAKER_05 2:37

Oh, Anthony has the most boss horror collection. I don't know if you guys have seen it. He's been keeping in touch with us over the years since we began our show, and he has a piece of trivia for everything, and he has a dope picture of him at a place for everything. It's just amazing.

SPEAKER_03 2:52

And we also just love to hear when horror brings families together.

SPEAKER_04 2:55

Instead of ripping them apart. Literally.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

We have another comment from Troy on Instagram who said, This one's not only fun and gimmicky, but it's here he gets the iconic mask. Uh, and Troy actually has a really fantastic Instagram handle, which is Slasher. I barely knew her. Finally, we have a text from the Hackerslash Hotline, and this is one from Ryan from New Jersey.

SPEAKER_04 3:16

There's a lot of Ryan's up in here.

SPEAKER_03 3:17

He said, Chris, I agree with you, Vera is a hottie, best all-red outfit in the history of movies. Catherine Parks was in Weekend at Bernie's starring Terry Kisser, who is the awful doctor in Friday the 13th, part seven, New Blood.

SPEAKER_05 3:29

The more you know. What a small little Friday the 13th world.

SPEAKER_03 3:32

Yeah, one day we'll get to review the seventh film in that franchise.

SPEAKER_05 3:35

Yeah, in a in a few years. I think what I love though is this idea of like there being an underground network of actors who work together, but they just bond onset over being killed by Jason. That'd be dope.

SPEAKER_03 3:46

That's cute.

SPEAKER_04 3:47

I don't want to get all the way to the seventh. It seems like it's too far. There's a reason we don't watch the seventh sequel.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

You can do it. Believe in yourself. I've been there. We can all do it.

SPEAKER_04 3:58

I think I'll let my dreams be dreams in this sense.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

And that's our follow-up.

SPEAKER_05 4:02

This week we're looking back at the first film ever released by Full Moon Productions, now known as Full Moon Features. You may recognize them best for their direct-to-home video B movie horror gems. Our movie this week is the first entry in a franchise that boasts 13 films. One of which is a non-canon crossover and spans in chronology from 1902 to 2019. For now though, we're focusing in on 1989, when four psychics are called together by a dead colleague, a colleague who discovered the secret of a long-dead artisan and his animated minions. This week we're talking about Puppet Master. Now, who has seen this before?

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Oh, I definitely have. This was one of those movies I watched time and time again because the sci-fi channel had it like every other day back in the early 2000s.

SPEAKER_04 4:49

Wow, I did not expect that. I expected every single one of us to say, nope, never seen it, never heard of it. Because that's where I'm at, of course. But it that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

I've seen multiple Puppet Master movies.

SPEAKER_06 4:58

Which is where I'm coming from because I swear I had seen this. I was like, yep, I've seen this. I saw it when I was younger because I was like, these puppets are terrifying, but they're also kind of funny and kind of cute. And then I realized when I watched this, I've actually not seen this one. So I've maybe seen two or three or something like that. So it's interesting. Yeah, I have not actually seen this.

SPEAKER_04 5:18

There's a lot of puppet master titled movies. That's what I learned.

SPEAKER_03 5:22

Yeah, I didn't know there were 13. But like Alexis, I thought I had seen at least part of this because I have these like fragment memories of some kind of puppet shenanigans in a horror movie that isn't from the child's play series. Um, but yeah, watching this, I was like, no, definitely have not seen this before.

SPEAKER_06 5:38

You don't remember Blade? Blade in this is like to me iconic.

SPEAKER_03 5:42

Wesley Snipes? Exactly.

SPEAKER_06 5:44

No, the guy who's dressed in the with the black hat.

SPEAKER_03 5:47

Oh, the Joan Rivers Michael Jackson one?

SPEAKER_06 5:49

Yes. Joan Rivers, yes.

SPEAKER_03 5:51

No, I I did not I did not remember that one.

SPEAKER_06 5:54

I'm dying right now. Not wrong. Yeah, not wrong at all. Great description. Thank you for that.

SPEAKER_05 6:00

This is one of those where I thought I had seen it in its entirety, but turns out I've only seen flashes and moments because there are definitely scenes and and images from this movie that I 100% remember, probably from the sci-fi channel. I don't have a recollection of seeing the uh absolute absurdity that is the ending of this movie. But I will say that going into it, you know, not having a clear memory of it, I expected it to just be fun. This is one of those classic you own it for your VHS, and it's a good time to just unwind, watch some goofy shenanigans. You're not gonna have the best acting, but there's gonna be something in there to keep you going. Whether I got that, it's debatable.

SPEAKER_03 6:39

As we know, I am somebody who finds dolls and you know, spooky little things to be uh unsettling at the very least. So I actually expected to be pretty scared by this movie. Um, and whatever the fragmented memories I have are, oh, they were definitely creepy. Uh so I was going into this being like, oh, let's see how this makes me feel at this age. And I gotta say, like, I was surprised.

SPEAKER_04 7:02

Thanks for being vague. I think for me, I expected a bit of chaos. Like, if it's a puppet movie, a puppet-based horror movie from the late 80s, like I'm just expecting uh a show, you know, a certain type of show, if you know what I mean. I would say that this lives up to that expectation a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_06 7:22

Yeah, it definitely does. Um, I I kind of expected like a lot of shenanigans. I expected a lot of killing um from these, and it's crazy because in this one, um, I'm not sure how they compare to the other ones, but um, there's not really much FaceTime that the puppets have. I feel like I, you know, so I was expecting them to be, you know, front and center for this movie, and to me they that they were not.

SPEAKER_04 7:45

Yeah, it's most mostly their point of view instead of seeing them. Don't you love it? Clickity clock, click-a-clack.

SPEAKER_06 7:52

Literally, no. I loved it. It was cute.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

I thought it was cute too. I was I was expecting the puppets to be kind of comical and to be really small, but somehow be dangerous towards full-size humans. You know, my memory of this guy's was like they're they're like tiny little things running around like slashing, you know, like ankle biters almost. And uh you know, I I felt like while watching it, they kind of lived up to that. That I got some small, kind of comical, but yet somehow dangerous little puppets. And that's really all my expectations were and I feel like it was you know what you get on screen. And that to me, that's fun. But also I've seen these films several times and out of order, and I definitely haven't seen them all because that's how cable TV worked, you know. But I felt like while watching it, it was still a good time.

SPEAKER_05 8:41

Yeah, it's like the good old action economy, right? With these dangers doll, you know, one is none, but two is one. And uh, if you got more than one that you're going up against, you're gonna get wrecked. So I feel that. I'm glad that it didn't disappoint on your millionth time watching this. It's like small soldiers. Did you guys ever watch that movie? Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:59

I was thinking the same thing, Ryan. Excellent reference.

SPEAKER_04 9:01

That's what I thought about during this movie. I just now had this thought, and that's totally what this is. This is the creepy adult version of small soldiers.

SPEAKER_06 9:09

They were creepy when I was a kid. I'm gonna be like, what the heck?

SPEAKER_04 9:12

I love that movie. When I was like little, little, I would watch it that VHS, you know, over and over.

SPEAKER_03 9:18

Same.

SPEAKER_05 9:18

I did love that movie. I wasn't little, little, I was just little. Yeah, since there's such a disparity between our ages, but it was a good time.

SPEAKER_03 9:26

I gotta say, while I was watching this, I found it really hard to suspend my disbelief from the jump and all throughout.

SPEAKER_04 9:33

Really?

SPEAKER_03 9:33

Am I alone?

SPEAKER_04 9:34

No, no, no. Paris, I agree with you.

SPEAKER_03 9:36

Okay, thank you.

SPEAKER_04 9:37

Yeah, it's it was just like I started this movie. You guys know I can sometimes like rip things apart or like be really tough, talk a lot of trash about lots of elements of movies. And I stepped back after like the first scene, and I was like, all right, we're gonna watch this puppet movie. We have to just pretend for a little bit. We just gotta go in with a smile, but I still couldn't. The boxing puppet, he had a lot of strength, okay?

SPEAKER_06 10:00

I couldn't get with it, I couldn't handle it. It's funny because that first scene for me, it actually grabbed my attention. And like while watching it, at least in the first quarter, um, I wouldn't say half. I was definitely entertained and you know, I it built up this intensity for me somehow. Don't ask me why, how these puppets were like so intense. I think it was just like the point of view that they had, and I was like, oh, what's going on? Who is this? Like, which one is this? But then at one point it did fall off for me, and I like, you know, while watching it was kind of not necessarily bored, but you know, I fell asleep for a second.

SPEAKER_05 10:38

I I can agree with that, I can feel that. I was, I mean, just like you, I was entertained by a lot of it, but it does hit a certain point where I felt a bit of like, okay, this 100% is just no longer fun. You just suck the fun right out of it. And this movie does some things, some things really well, but there's one aspect in particular that is done very, very poorly. And I know that Mike, it sounds like a lot to put like the weight on the shoulders of just like this one thing because this movie is it's hokey, it's a B movie. You're gonna get what you're gonna get. But this one thing had a huge impact on my mood while I was watching it. It was a good time, and then I was just like kind of pissed off for a little bit of it. I was like, what the hell's going on here? I do have a question. This is just a general question, and I think Paris, when you talked about suspending your disbelief, I think this is why I'm a little bit surprised because I don't know how you're gonna answer this. I thought we could have all agreed going into this, uh, that perhaps all psychics are scams, but some of you think ghosts are real, so I feel like I gotta ask who believes in psychics, Paris.

SPEAKER_03 11:44

Of course, psychic powers are definitely real. Yep. We all have them. It's like a muscle. You can work it out, and the more you trust your intuition, the more reliable it will be. Yeah. My mom has had several psychic experiences where she like was in this old office building one time and like fully like read this death of this woman by name and then found it in a newspaper. So psychics are real, it's definitely a thing.

SPEAKER_05 12:06

So carnival fortune tellers are not a scam, is what you're saying.

SPEAKER_03 12:09

No, it's case by case. I think it's a real thing, but I also think it's easy to exploit for money.

SPEAKER_06 12:13

I kind of feel that way too. I feel like you can have someone who is using people and taking advantage of them. But then I also feel like, yeah, I didn't think about it if you use your intuition a lot. And I know I don't. Yeah, which makes seem like maybe I should just go with how I feel the first time on something. I'd probably be in a lot different position than I would be now. I bet.

SPEAKER_03 12:36

Also, I've had dreams that have actually happened. I once dreamt the entire plot to a book, and then I got the book in the mail, and I read it, and I was like, oh, I already know what this is. And it was exactly how I dreamt it.

SPEAKER_06 12:46

So is deja vu like a psychic power?

SPEAKER_03 12:51

Maybe it could be a premonition.

SPEAKER_06 12:53

What is that? Because I feel like I feel that all the time. Maybe I know.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

You had a synapse misfire. That's what happened.

SPEAKER_06 12:59

Oh.

SPEAKER_05 13:00

Yeah. I would love just some uh scientific input on all this because there are definitely common things, right? Paris, I too have had a dream. Like I had a dream that I woke up in the middle of the night and someone's watching for me through my window, and then hours later, just when I was in Texas on the East Coast, uh, there was a guy watching my cousins through the windows. Like, there's weird shit like that that happens.

SPEAKER_03 13:19

See, that's psychic.

SPEAKER_05 13:20

But I don't think that's being a psychic.

SPEAKER_03 13:22

Then what is it?

SPEAKER_04 13:23

I would like to note here psychics are just like politics and horoscopes. They exist when you believe in them. Otherwise, they're baloney.

SPEAKER_05 13:30

Thank you, Ryan.

SPEAKER_04 13:31

No, I believe in some horoscopes.

SPEAKER_05 13:34

It's all fake unless you believe in it. All right. Well, that sets a good precedence for the movie.

SPEAKER_01 13:38

I mean, obviously, you you can probably already guess my viewpoint that it's all BS. I mean, I think that people, you know, one, the self-fulfilling prophecy is a thing that exists and that compels us to do a lot of things that we think we saw as a premonition or whatever. I don't know. But I think a lot of it is just coincidence and then people picking up on cues from other people and from the world around them. And sure, they might be observant and that might do the mental math without realizing they're doing it, but reading minds, like detecting what happened in a room just by sitting in there, seeing somebody else's dreams, like no.

SPEAKER_05 14:13

Agreed. There's only one I believe in, and that's Walton Mercado. But you know, that's just the Puerto Rican in me.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Really? Oh my god. No, the one thing I will admit to believing is possible is that perhaps humans are able to sometimes perceive time in a nonlinear fashion. That's the only thing I'll admit to.

SPEAKER_04 14:32

Mac, psychics are baloney. Also, humans can perceive time nonlinear.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

I didn't say always. I said occasionally we may be able to perceive time in a way that's nonlinear for a brief moment. Um, but I don't think it's I don't think it's a sense. I don't think it's something where it's like putting your fingers on your temple and like tuning in to the world outside, and you're like, okay, now I'm gonna like see the future or see the past or whatever. I think like every now and then people have experiences where it's just like maybe, maybe our brains are capable slightly of like fifth dimensional or sixth dimensional thinking. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 15:01

It's just so funny how far you go. You don't stop, you never go to first base, right? If you ever ask Mac, sorry, this is not a sex reference. Okay, this is just like a life reference. If you're like Mac, do you believe in this? This is at first base, you're like, no, that's silly. But home home run, I'm in there. I'm all the way there.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

You never stop at first base.

SPEAKER_04 15:20

Is that a good analogy at all for anything ever? No.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

You always get a home run.

SPEAKER_04 15:24

Okay, sorry. I'm sorry I said it.

SPEAKER_03 15:27

On the subject of psychics, I have to say I was disappointed by the lack of diversity in this cast. I think we really could have used like a Raven Simone, Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost, or like Madame Cleo type to really like round out all the whiteness we were getting. Don't you think that would be too token? Probably, yeah, but this was the 80s.

SPEAKER_06 15:45

Yeah, Whoopi Goldberg definitely should have been there. I love, love, love Ghost so much.

SPEAKER_04 15:50

She was not gonna put up with anything going on in this movie. Yeah, she's like, puppets, hell no. No, no, no, no, no. I think we could have just used like a short person that looked at the ground more while they were walking. I think that would have been really useful. Considering most of the time there was a killer puppet at their feet. I'm upset that no one noticed that. Uh uh ever. Like, why? No one looked down, no one looked where they were walking.

SPEAKER_05 16:11

Oh, one person in the beginning definitely does.

SPEAKER_04 16:13

Yeah, one, and it's chaos.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Just to add that Whoopi Goldberg does play a character called Gaynan in Star Trek The Next Generation, who is not a human, they're humanoid, and they uh appear to have some, you know, other senses and can tell when things are out of whack, like, you know. So it's out there.

SPEAKER_06 16:31

That's interesting. I don't know, these puppets, like, they were kind of I feel like the first time I watched us, um, when I was a kid, they were kind of terrifying. Well, clearly I didn't watch this movie, I watched one of the many sequels that it has, but I was kind of scared. And watching it now, I mean, it was fun, kind of still like scary. I don't know why. I I still feel like dolls come alive. Don't don't ask me. I know this is the weirdest thing. But you ever like position something and you come back and it's not the same place it was? Nope. Psychics, not ever once. Never move ever. The psychics moved it.

SPEAKER_01 17:10

Maybe because you have a memory that failed you and you positioned it differently than you remember.

SPEAKER_06 17:15

That's actually most likely because I forget everything. Android Mac, always with an explanation.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

I mean, that's who I am. I was not scared of this movie, but I did find it a little I don't know if it was disappointing that it didn't really seem like a horror movie to me. Like I expected, like I'm thinking about my memories. I was expecting the actual puppets in Puppet Master to be scarier and to be a little bit more violent, more nefarious. And I didn't really get that, and it was a little bit of a letdown. They did seem more silly and more fun. Obviously, they're dangerous, but you know, I don't know. I remembered it differently.

SPEAKER_04 17:50

Yeah, I have to agree with you. I had accidentally opened up a 2007 Puppet Master, and the cover art for that movie is so scary, and I was like, oh my god, I am not ready for this. And then I turned on this movie and I was like, all right, I'm for sure ready. I'm prepared. This isn't one I'd keep my light on for no, no need. When it starts with like the two guys in trench coats with the not a bucket hat fedora, and they're like walking in sync, left foot, right foot, like all the way through hotel, like nah, you're good.

SPEAKER_06 18:21

But there's one that was totally more dominant in the in that in that uh in that couple. I was like, wow, look at them. They can't even walk in sync. You know, I've seen Men in Black, I've seen The Matrix, no one's walking in sync. But can they walk in Backstreet Boys? Ooh, I saw a TikTok and someone's like N-S-Y-N-C, and I was like, What? That's how they named the spelled it? Yes. Oh god, God bless me. I'm too old.

SPEAKER_05 18:46

Because they're on TikTok, and that's a different breed of people. The flavor of puppets that we get in this was actually a huge pleasant surprise for me. Flavor? Yeah, they're just different puppets, man. These are different puppets. They taste pretty good. You've had ice cream, but have you had this ice cream? You haven't. I was surprised by how great the puppeteering was, too, because it's not Chucky, right? So you don't get like a larger puppet with five people working just the face alone, right? Uh it's it's not so big that it's gonna actually look animatronic. These are just these tiny little figures with like seemingly wooden faces. So it still took like five people to move each one, but it's just the quality of combining the actual practical puppeteering with some of the techniques they use for this film. I was actually impressed by it. Like it's an 80s movie for sure, right? So, like, this isn't gonna be the best one you've ever seen. But for the time, I felt pretty good about it.

SPEAKER_04 19:41

Yeah, I I can't uh discredit that. I think you know, puppets are what they are. Uh when you have a puppet-on film, you have to know what you're going in for, you know, like you're not getting an actor, you're you're not getting smooth movements. I think they were pretty good. I think for me, my biggest disappointment from this movie came from the storyline. And I spent a lot of time trying to care about people and also trying to understand why they existed and why it was a part of their life at this point. Like, why am I experiencing this story? Um, I think for me, there was just some things that really just let me down. And I I think these puppets could have done a lot more in a different story, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

The whole premise of the story of all like these people knowing each other and having a specific skill that's brought them together, and now they're here for some like unknown reason seems you know like something we've seen. To me, when I was watching it, I was like, this honestly could have been the start of a great Stephen King.

SPEAKER_06 20:39

I was just about to say it's very it. Yeah, exactly. Very it. Yeah, yeah, I was definitely getting those vibes for sure, for sure. I was like, um, I have seen this before, where somehow these um characters end up in a room by some supernatural presence. I don't know, but yeah, the storyline for me was hard to follow for sure. I was kind of like, it was very disjointed, and I was like, I don't know how it all comes together. Still kind of confused, but still watched it. Still somehow made sense. I don't know why.

SPEAKER_05 21:08

It's for sure not one of those things that you watch and you're really just holding on for the story. Like the story is just a loose idea, very loose, tangentially to like, yeah, just get everybody here, have a good time, look for these dolls. It's it. What's interesting is as you look at the franchise and you look at the chronology of it, it's insane the layers that are there. Like the two guys in the beginning are actually Nazis. Did not pick up on that unless you like read it. I kind of got that energy because they're perfectly in sync singing this is 1939, because I'm psychic. Okay, not how that works, but I think the juice they're able to get out of squeezing this lemon for a whole franchise is is pretty impressive. This is not the story, it is not the best story by any means, and also I kind of am the of the opinion well. Talk later in characters about one of these people not even being a psychic, rather just an exploiter of psychics.

SPEAKER_03 22:07

I will say, uh, as scared as I thought I would be going into this, um, my complete and utter inability to believe any of this as being remotely plausible led me to feel zero fear at all.

SPEAKER_07 22:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 22:19

I don't know why it makes more sense to me that Chucky could come alive, but it does. And also, like the way he moves is much scarier to me than the way these moved. These were giving me more like claymation vibes, where it's like, eh, I'm not scared of claymation, you know?

SPEAKER_04 22:33

Okay, I'd like to know one of these has real hands.

SPEAKER_03 22:35

So like Yeah, and one of them had human hands. Like what?

SPEAKER_04 22:38

Maybe you're not giving him enough credit, okay? Yeah, maybe he deserves more of your of your love.

SPEAKER_06 22:43

Yeah, adult-sized hands. I was like, whoa, what?

SPEAKER_04 22:46

Also, adult-sized punches. Yeah, I was like, wow, someone's getting punched in this. So the question is since we talked about how this like idea of these group of people coming back together to do something feels really familiar. Is the movie original? And I think my answer for it is no.

SPEAKER_06 23:05

What? Are you kidding me? This movie is super original. Because there's tiny puppets?

SPEAKER_03 23:09

Yeah, I thought it was original.

SPEAKER_06 23:10

Yeah, I think, well, from what I've understood about the rest of the franchise, it explores like what aura, I don't know, person is inside of these puppets. So I think that that's cool.

SPEAKER_04 23:22

I don't think I've ever seen But see, we didn't get any of that in this movie.

SPEAKER_06 23:25

So I have to just assess this. Okay, yeah, we have to base it on this movie. Sure, that sounds great. I'd watch more if they're better than this. I don't know. I think it was an original idea. I think it has this, you know, I like bee horror films, um, mostly the newer stuff, not the older stuff. But um, I don't know. I like this idea of puppets, but this like campy vibe you get kind of from it. And I think that that I haven't seen something like that before done, but that's just my opinion.

SPEAKER_03 23:55

The synopsis of this movie is literally four psychics brought together in a house to be murdered by puppets. I don't think you can say it's unoriginal.

SPEAKER_04 24:03

Precisely.

SPEAKER_03 24:04

That's a good synopsis.

SPEAKER_04 24:05

I don't know, man. It's just puppets and a movie that we've seen 50,000 times.

SPEAKER_03 24:10

Name one other one.

SPEAKER_04 24:12

Of a movie with a group of people that used to be together and come back together and then they get killed?

SPEAKER_03 24:17

Killed by puppets.

SPEAKER_04 24:18

The puppets is the only part, but there's other movies about puppets.

SPEAKER_03 24:20

That's the whole part.

SPEAKER_05 24:21

Here's the thing, though, like I'm not a Marvel person, but you can sum up one of the last Avengers movies like that. Group of people were together, broke up, come back together all together, and some of them die. I probably also don't think that's original.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

Just so we're clear. I I think it is original in in this film, and I think it's kind of like you can say Star Wars is original, right? Even though it's like a clear depiction of the hero with a thousand faces. I mean, it's you know, you can't say that Star Wars is a ripoff of the Odyssey, right? No, it's it's completely different. Sure, there's like familiar elements to the story that have happened 10,000 times before, but it's clearly its own thing. And I think I think Puppet Master, maybe this is nostalgia speaking, but I think it's got some elements that are like super familiar, but it's its own depiction of these familiar elements. And I have never seen this story played out in another film where these people are coming together and get taken out by tiny little killer puppets. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 25:21

I'll be wrong. I feel exactly the same, Mac. Like I've seen a lot of doll movies, seen a lot of them, seen a lot of some pretty terrible ones. Who knows where this ranks, but it's certainly the first with a group of four psychics and a at the Bodega Bay Inn. This feels like a really good original take on killer dolls. There were plenty before it. So you can even go back to the 1930s and find movies that feature at least a singular killer puppet or doll. But taking a group of psychics, combining it with the magical orange origins that we get alluded to of these puppets, is different enough for me. And the puppets is what makes this original. I mean, it's like, forget even the psychic element. The fact that we get puppets who are as malleable as these are, it really depends on like the eye of the beholder or like the person who controls the power of them. That feels different.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

Yeah, each puppet is its own character, it's individual and it has unique qualities that play out a lot more as you get into the franchise. But each of them feels pretty unique, and each of them, I'm sure, has their own story. I don't remember because I've only seen pieces of the other films, you know, while watching TV back in the early 2000s. But I'm sure people here who've seen all those films listening in probably know that, like, oh yeah, so and so, they have this whole backstory explained in part number, whatever. So I think in this film you get a little bit of identity, and I hope we can break that down in characters later, but yeah, it's it's definitely got you know some uniqueness to it. So I'm glad Chris is on board with it.

SPEAKER_05 26:46

And I think Paris was by the fact that uh I think he said that uh you can't say that psychics get being hunted down by puppets are not is not unoriginal.

SPEAKER_03 26:53

That's true. Somebody wrote that and then it got made.

SPEAKER_05 26:56

The ending of this movie is the actually the aforementioned part where it all falls apart for me. It was a lot of fun and then it wasn't, and then it started being fun for just a little bit, and then it just lasted so damn long that it lost its funness. And there's a character decision that makes zero sense, and it actually soured me quite a bit.

SPEAKER_06 27:15

Maybe this has to do with like all the psychic powers in this movie, but literally I was so confused on this whole ending. I wasn't sure which way it was going, you know, and then there's the final scene which left me with um WTF blank blank blank. I'd love to talk about that in the second half, but I don't know, I really want you guys to just explain the ending to me because I was so confused.

SPEAKER_05 27:40

Oh, this is a very phantasm ending.

SPEAKER_03 27:42

Okay, good.

SPEAKER_06 27:43

Sometimes there's too much going on for me to wrap my brain around. So maybe I just need a little like breakdown of that.

SPEAKER_03 27:49

I am team confused with you, Alexis. But I feel like there were moments in the ending where like the gore was kind of fun and like some of the shenanigans were fun, but ultimately I was just kind of like, uh, but I do also have questions about that final scene.

SPEAKER_04 28:02

Yep, I uh pretty much agree. I'm concerned that this is maybe like phantasm, but more so just one of those endings where it's like stop thinking that it means more than it means. It just means that, you know, one person is dead and one person is alive or something like that. You know, movies just end sometimes and we're like, but what does it mean? And they're like, nah, it means nothing. And I'm real concerned that that's where this movie's at. And it's probably not, but I pretty much agree. It it's a bit confusing, but it's more so because of the story overall. When you get to the end, you were just waiting for answers that you didn't get.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

Oh, yeah. Yeah, they had some pieces to put together into a beautiful puzzle. And I remember while watching this getting towards the end and seeing it kind of not come together, I'm just thinking, like, you've lost a plot.

SPEAKER_04 28:47

Let me tell you, I had a half put-together puzzle on my kitchen table for six months since quarantine, and half of it looked great, but the other half looked ridiculous, and we tried so hard to get it done, and it's a lot like this movie.

SPEAKER_06 29:01

It just never happened. We put it away. I feel like it's one piece that's very similar to another, and that's where you messed up on.

SPEAKER_01 29:08

Do you not like put all the pieces out, lay them out, sort them out, do the outer edge?

SPEAKER_06 29:12

You don't do that?

SPEAKER_04 29:13

Okay. Overall, 50% of the puzzle was how many pieces to this puzzle? Uh 2,000, I think. Oh.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

So way more pieces than this movie had to put together. So you have an excuse. You have an excuse. There was about three pieces to this they needed to put together, and they kind of like they're like, whatever, tape it. Tape it together.

SPEAKER_04 29:30

Yeah, tape it together, make that hole fit.

SPEAKER_05 29:32

Well, it doesn't sound like uh they put it together very well based on this conversation, but let's see how that translates into scores. You all have a moment to get your thoughts together and out of the gutter. But Alexis, what's our body count?

SPEAKER_06 29:44

We have a whopping six bodies in this movie. Middle of the road, number. I kind of like it.

SPEAKER_05 29:50

For sure. A little less than you would expect for a hotel, but you know, not bad. Ryan, what about our animal report?

SPEAKER_04 29:56

Yeah, we've got a reverse animal report this week. And uh things escalated in a positive direction. It's very, it's very unsettling to be honest. It doesn't feel good. It's a good thing, but it feels bad.

SPEAKER_05 30:10

Well, the movie so far sounds like a mess, but at least we have an encouraging animal report to rely on if you are going to watch this with an animal lover yourself. Now let's go ahead and start getting into the scores for this movie. Puppet Master from 1989. Is it a hack or a slash?

SPEAKER_01 30:26

It's a slash for me, and it's because of nostalgia, I think. I think I remember watching these as well, I guess I was still an adult, but you know, as a young adult and and watching these and thinking like, oh, this is silly and this is fun. And it wasn't necessarily like a scary thing. To me, it was more the sci-fi part of it that I kind of dug into. But that's that's I'll I'll throw it out there. It's just it's nostalgia for me. I that's why it's getting a slush.

SPEAKER_04 30:53

I think that I have missed a portion of life by not having cable and not ever watching the sci-fi channel as a oh, you're totally missing out growing human. Yeah, I think so. Because I think this falls into a similar category of like I mean, to me, I draw a lot of parallels between phantasm and this movie. And it's because this is like an overall genre or feeling that I I've just I've never connected with because I've never seen it. I didn't see it back in the day, you know, when it was doing its thing, and now I don't appreciate it. Um, it's a hack for me. I think this is the movie for someone. I think someone like Mac, someone that aligns with his preferences, is gonna be really into this. And all I can think about is one of my favorite people in this world that loves phantasm. I just want to be like, do you also love Pope Puppet Master? Because it seems like you would, but for me, it just doesn't do it. I just can't suspend my disbelief enough to get into it. It didn't scare me. The story fell flat, so I think the places that the puppets kind of don't do it for me, the story could have done it, um, but it didn't in this instance. So I would actually watch some of the other films in the series, depending on what they're like. Like maybe if Matt could recommend one, but this one, it just doesn't do it. And and it's not to say it's not for anyone, it's just not for me. And this sometimes you have to make a personal hacker slash decision.

SPEAKER_06 32:18

I've been teetering on just how I feel about this, and I feel like I still am. Um, someone asked me today, like, how how is the movie? And I'm pretty sure I was like POS, like but then I like kept thinking about it and I was like, okay, but I was like entertained, and I don't think it was a waste of time either for me. I think because there's elements of uh like Mac mentioned that like that that sci-fi genre that I totally enjoy. Um, I don't know. I I just have this thing about B-rated movies. I will always probably give them a slash. I don't know. And I was just because I think I watched this and I was like, okay, to me, it wasn't a waste of time. It was never a waste of time. Um, and I think because I've seen these puppets before, I kind of thought I saw this movie. I know what they do in other movies, so I'm excited to see how we go about this journey on Hackerslash if we keep watching these. Maybe we watch all 13. God bless us. I think these puppets are fun. Like I like what they do, you know. I just love this like can't be vibe, this like musical score that's kind of weird. And, you know, in some movies, like Killer Clowns from Outer Space, I don't like it, but I like it in this. The point of view from these puppets, I like very thoroughly enjoy. So I'm definitely giving this a slash. Wow. Dead silence. Okay. I I I didn't know how I felt, so I just aired on this side of caution.

SPEAKER_04 33:51

Honestly, which was I already had my reaction. I already knew you were gonna do it as you were going on. As you were going on, I already had my like moment of depression. Yeah, it already happened.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

Welcome to the team.

SPEAKER_04 34:01

I feel I feel sad for you.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

No, don't feel sad. Feel happy. No, it's a good thing.

SPEAKER_04 34:05

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_01 34:06

The more people get into sci-fi horror, the better for me, at least.

SPEAKER_03 34:09

Listen, Ryan, don't feel bad because things are going back to how they usually are. Because I am with you tonight.

SPEAKER_04 34:14

Oh, I know.

SPEAKER_03 34:15

This movie is dumb and bad. Uh honestly, it could have been good for me because obviously I love psychics. Um, spooky dolls can oftentimes do it for me. Um, but the execution here was just like stupid. It didn't scare me. It the story was loose. It was very loose, it was shoddy. The script was like, what? The acting was, huh? Uh, and there were moments that I was like, okay, there's like little morsels here that I'm gonna like take away and I'll remember those, but for the most part, I was just like, this was a waste of my time. The ending started to get so boring that I did, like Alexis, start falling asleep and I had to keep waking up and rewind. And it's just like when you can't get invested in any particular thing in the movie, what is there to grasp onto? Um, so for me, this is definitely a hack. Uh, but like Ryan, I'm also open to watching maybe a couple other installments because maybe like when we have a more fleshed out concept and idea, maybe things get better, and maybe like with better effects, things can be scarier. Uh, but for this, I'm gonna pass.

SPEAKER_04 35:17

Fleshed out is the worst term that's ever existed on this planet.

SPEAKER_03 35:21

Oh no.

SPEAKER_05 35:22

Yeah, this is um this is a really interesting case study, right? Because like you have this movie that is already inherently not gonna be super great, but then I remember you don't fucking think too deeply about it because it's a direct-to-vHS horror movie. That's it. And I want to give you some context here because Charles Bann, the producer of this movie, is still active to this day. Uh, I'm gonna give you a sample of a recent title, Ginger Dead Man 2 Passion of the Crust.

SPEAKER_07 35:51

Ooh.

SPEAKER_05 35:52

So that gives you an idea of the kind of flavor of horror like this belongs in. And I think that this is a higher quality than a lot of what you're gonna get. Excellent cinematography from my perspective. There is definitely some some pain points here and there, but the perspective of the puppets and the puppeteering of those puppets are honestly what makes this movie. If we had shitty puppets, or if we had uh puppets who are purely homicidal for like no fucking reason, then that would be a problem for me. I wouldn't be able to get into it as much. But they did a thing that I didn't expect them to do. They made the puppets complex, and that is something that I can appreciate, and therefore it is a slash. Oh my god, it's not the strongest slash I've ever given, it's just stronger slash than Blood Rage, for sure. Which should have been a hack.

SPEAKER_03 36:41

Yeah, that doesn't help it.

SPEAKER_05 36:43

I don't know about that. Blood Rage, I was talking to one of our patrons, Spencer, about, and it's just it's so bad, it's good and has like a little bit of a charm to it. So that's how I categorize this. Like, this is not technically the best movie you're ever gonna see. It has a ton of flaws. Again, there's a huge issue with the ending of this movie that I fucking like can't stand. However, the little morsels that you're talking about, Paris, they add up to enough to be a nice snack, right? Not the most filling meal you're ever gonna have, but it's a nice snack to tide you over.

SPEAKER_03 37:12

What is this, snack or slash?

SPEAKER_05 37:14

And with that, Puppet Master from 1989 gets three slashes and two hacks. Now you can find this movie streaming online. It's streaming on HBO Max. So check it out, see for yourself, and join us in the second half so we can break it all down. See you in a bit.

SPEAKER_00 37:34

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SPEAKER_05 38:09

Welcome back, folks. You are now entering the spoiler zone for Puppet Master, which earned three slashes, surprisingly, and two hacks. We have a lot to unpack here, but before we get into the specifics of you know how we feel about these puppets, we do have uh some gore to attend to.

SPEAKER_06 38:23

So, Alexis, what's up with the gore score? This movie, I think, for the time and kind of like you're thinking about the runtime, I think it's like, you know, average. I don't think it'd be like a lot or a little. I think, you know, you start off on this scene and there's a lot of intensity building. There's these Nazis running after a puppet master who is, you know, enchanting spirits, uh Egyptian gods, and I don't know what he's doing, but somehow he's getting these spirits in these dolls. So it's like a lot of intensity, at least for me, in the beginning. And then bam, you get a death, you get a suicide, you get this full-on picture of someone like committing suicide in the first like few scenes, and it's like, wow, it's really jarring. You're like, wow, where where is this movie leading to? And honestly, then you get 45 minutes in, you still don't have anything, like, which I think is kind of like a slow point for me. And then um, then you get this, you know, Neil's death at the end, and it's extremely graphic. You get to see all the puppets, and not that I'm trying to spoil the entire franchise for anyone, but it's kind of like something that um is reoccurring, it's like something super graphic at the end, and like it's it's it's exciting, pretty much keeps me entertained. Unfortunately, I had to wait till the end, typical, but I did appreciate that, you know. Like, there's a there's a good death scene in every movie in this franchise. I mean, I don't even know if it goes into my favorite death. I mean, Neil has to be like one of them, but I definitely love Frank's death because you have Leech Girl who's coming out, and it was really interesting because she's like they did this like foam latex mouth for her because to me it looked super realistic. I don't know about you guys, but these puppets and all their you know stuff that they're doing to these people. But her mouth is latex, it's opening up and it's cool, it's like leeches coming out, and to me, that's it's crazy. It's funny in every scene, you only see like two-thirds of it, and then it cuts, and then you see the full thing. So technically, two-thirds is only in her mouth, but uh we're good with that.

SPEAKER_05 40:32

Respect her boundaries.

SPEAKER_06 40:33

Yes, I respect it. Even the puppets are considered in this movie.

SPEAKER_05 40:39

Could you imagine the agreements and uh consent waivers they have to sign for that kind of shit? Those poor puppets, man. I hope they have a good age. You know, right?

SPEAKER_06 40:46

Yeah, I do love his. I don't know, it was just like very interesting to go from this like sex scene that's lasted like a while and is kind of uncomfortable, and then you get this like doll sucking on his uh nipples, and I was like, what is going on here? So it was just like a very interesting take on that kind of kill. But I thought it was thoroughly entertaining. Please don't forget the noises that she was making as she was doing this. I thought I was watching a porn for a second. I had to like uh pause this.

SPEAKER_03 41:15

She's gagging out leeches for like 30 minutes.

SPEAKER_04 41:18

It was like it went from like porny noise, which was like, okay, whatever, like the scene was already uh uncomfortable, like you said, but then it just went to full gagging, dying. And he's just like, Oh yeah. And I'm like, can you not? She's if that's if that's your girl making that noise, she's literally dying right now.

SPEAKER_03 41:37

And also, like, what would she be gagging on? Because you can feel that she's not touching you.

SPEAKER_04 41:42

She's clearly touching you in one little spot.

SPEAKER_03 41:44

And also, it was very strange to me that like that was clearly supposed to be like the sexy puppet. And I was like, why? And why is this happening? Um, but it was also my favorite kill, so I guess I liked it.

SPEAKER_05 41:55

So there's that behind the scenes feature, no strings attached. One of the puppeteers describes her as she has the face of a woman, the curves of a woman, but she's like and I don't remember what the rest of the statement was. I was like, what a fucking odd way to describe a puppet. I don't like it. It's weird.

SPEAKER_03 42:11

Somebody was attracted to this puppet.

SPEAKER_06 42:14

Yeah, puppeteers have to have like some sort of thing with their puppets. I'm sure they have some sort of like, oh my gosh, this creature, this beautiful creature or something. Some of them bring them to life, evidently.

SPEAKER_01 42:23

I support this. No, thank you. But also, how did he not notice that the orifice on his chest was like a Barbies?

SPEAKER_04 42:30

Right.

SPEAKER_01 42:31

He was just like, he's like, Oh yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_02 42:33

I love your tiny mouth.

SPEAKER_05 42:35

I wonder if he just supposed that she was using some kind of instrument on his body.

SPEAKER_04 42:40

I think it was because he's so disgusting that literally any physical touch was just doing it for him.

SPEAKER_01 42:46

That part. He was open for anything. He's like, Oh, hands tied up, yeah, now I'm into this.

SPEAKER_05 42:50

It was honestly one of those things where when I saw that, I flashed back to when we reviewed The Town That Dried at Sundown, and I remembered Ryan's distaste for that sex scene, and this created a similar feeling of distaste for me.

SPEAKER_04 43:06

It was it it was definitely not something that I enjoyed watching. It w it was just uncomfortable start to finish. Kind of everything with those two characters is really uncomfortable, but um, for me, uh ironically, my favorite death was Carissa, because obviously she got drilled and it was great. Granted, we didn't get anything exciting on screen, honestly. We just got some juice noises, as always, some mac and cheese stir.

SPEAKER_05 43:34

Just one bloody hand.

SPEAKER_04 43:36

Yeah, and a bloody hand. Also, I'd like to note, I didn't pay I didn't spend a lot of effort on this in my brain, but I'm pretty sure the hand that raised up in the orientation it was in doesn't make sense for laying on the ground. But I did enjoy when we got to see her later with more quality.

SPEAKER_06 43:48

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say, her mouth and everything. I was like, damn, she was drilled.

SPEAKER_04 43:52

Yeah, she was drilled, but it was intense. It was intense. But I I I could definitely have done with a little bit more on screen from that.

SPEAKER_03 43:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 44:00

Yeah, but I feel like when you're doing it with puppets, uh you you gotta do what you can. Yeah. There's only so much before it starts looking cheesy, and it probably already looked somewhat cheesy with the puppets already. Yeah, when when the drill was running at her. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 44:16

I I was a fan of Dina's death because I feel like she had a good level of fight in her.

SPEAKER_06 44:21

Hell yeah. She's the only person that picked up the freaking dolls.

SPEAKER_01 44:24

Yeah, she was like, Oh, you're not going to kill me, at least not easily. I'm gonna throw you over there, I'm gonna throw you down here. I'm gonna fight back. She took like 12 punches to the face, got so many full-size punches. Full-sized fist. Boom. Those were very funny. But in the end, she gets killed off in the way that she like saw, you know, when she was having that vision in the beginning, even though visions aren't real. But it was kind of you know a satisfying way to wrap up her character. At that point, I was actually starting to like her character a little bit. Um, a little bit, very small amount. But the way that she goes out, like it was it was pretty epic compared to everyone else who you know just got drilled in the head under the bed. You know, she had to like fight for her life until the bitter end and almost made it out, except her poor broken legs you know, stranded her in an elevator.

SPEAKER_05 45:09

Yeah. She was also my favorite death, I think, just because we get a a final girl level chase for her.

SPEAKER_07 45:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:16

And she was the only one, just like Alexis pointed out, the only one fucking throwing the dolls. Like every horror movie with a doll, you wonder why doesn't anyone just throw these things, throw his ass down the stairs. And here was the first thing she did. I do have issue though. If you have this vision of what's to come, don't wear that outfit. Don't go to that place.

SPEAKER_03 45:38

Don't wear that outfit in general.

SPEAKER_04 45:39

It happens several times in this movie where they were like, ooh, people are gonna die. I'll do it.

SPEAKER_05 45:44

Yeah, I think at one point Alex says, I'm here to make sure it doesn't come true. Then why the fuck are you here, dude? Stay away, just stay away. Proof it's all fake.

SPEAKER_01 45:54

I mean, in the in the one scene where he thinks he's like gonna get killed by Neil, he just follows along in the exact same way that he had in his dream. Nothing different. He's like, Okay, sure, let's go do this thing. It's time to die now.

SPEAKER_05 46:07

He just predicts the sentence. This is what a Yale University education got me.

SPEAKER_01 46:11

Okay, thanks. Isn't that cute? I'm finishing your sentences. I could be a douche.

SPEAKER_04 46:16

Like he said something stupid. I sense things or something dumb, and I was like, okay, I dream of things to come.

SPEAKER_05 46:22

You literally had a dream of what was to come, and now you're fucking ignoring it.

SPEAKER_03 46:26

Can we talk about how the opening credits were at least five minutes?

SPEAKER_04 46:29

Oh, that's funny. I didn't realize that. I didn't either. I usually pick up on those things.

SPEAKER_05 46:33

Oh yeah, I was okay with it. I mean, it set the scene, you know. And here's the thing with the movie opening and with the you get Blade running around the hotel and nobody noticing him, I just thought, is this a is this a world in which these puppets were a normal thing?

SPEAKER_03 46:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 46:51

Like, is this just what everybody's cool with?

SPEAKER_03 46:53

Some of those puppets were like three feet tall.

SPEAKER_05 46:55

And then this one chick reacted so poorly, and I was like, oh, this is not what I thought it was. He's just very sneaky, even when people look directly at the camera.

SPEAKER_06 47:03

Yeah, it reminded me of uh this show on Netflix, Bojack Horseman, where it's like, you know, talking animals are a thing. I mean, it is like a sketch show and like an animated show, but which in that sense everything is okay. But I definitely was like with you, Chris. I'm like literally, he almost ran into someone. So I'm like, what the heck? Are these people dumb? No, they're so tall they don't look at their feet. They're clearly not my size. They because I'm always looking at the ground no matter what.

SPEAKER_05 47:33

These are the people who've never been burdened by being unable to reach. This is basically Muppets, but weird.

SPEAKER_01 47:39

Now I want to see this movie where they're a normal part of life and like traveling around.

SPEAKER_04 47:43

Yeah. Yeah. But still look creepy and have weird like weapons on them.

SPEAKER_01 47:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 47:48

I do want to just point out that there is a ridiculous death in this movie that like isn't even a death. Well, it's a death in the metaphysical sense.

SPEAKER_03 47:55

Just one.

SPEAKER_05 47:56

Teresa getting bonked in the head. The bonk, the scream, and the blood feel out of order. Yep. What I'd establish at the end of this movie, despite how many things I like about it, someone was not particularly skilled at editing. Like this movie, I think, could be a lot better if you cut it down just a bit and rearrange things a little bit. And I think it'd be a better experience overall. Let me tell you how much that death was not effective.

SPEAKER_04 48:20

I fully thought that was Neil's wife, and she got hit and then was on the couch and then was okay. And I was like, I don't understand why there was so much blood spatter for a woman that's perfectly fine. Because it it because I got so like unconnected to these characters, and the death was so unimpactful in like it it just meant nothing. I fully didn't even know that was a different person.

SPEAKER_05 48:42

But then she comes back with like her head looking all crazy, yes, holding the fire poker, saying, Don't touch the body, then you never see her again. What the fuck? What's the point? Why was she in this movie?

SPEAKER_03 48:53

She was a weird adult baby. I was glad she was gone. She had like the weird voice of a child. She reminded me of that woman from Poltergeist. And I was also expecting her to show up in this.

SPEAKER_05 49:01

She's an incredible actress, so don't you don't you speak ill of her, sir. She's an icon and a legend.

SPEAKER_01 49:07

Yes, no, truly. Speaking of icons and legends, the puppets in this movie are actually something really fun to look at. And those personalities that they're able to show just through like the way that they're they're dressed and the weapons that they each have and how distinct they are, is one of those things where I think if you see any puppet master movie and then 20 years later you're like thinking about Puppet Master, you can think about each individual puppets. You can think about Blade, you can think about later on there's a character that has guns. Um, you can think about obviously the leeches.

SPEAKER_04 49:37

Are they mini guns?

SPEAKER_01 49:38

Six shooters.

SPEAKER_04 49:39

I don't know what that means. Is it a tiny gun the size of the puppet?

SPEAKER_01 49:42

It's yeah, no, it's a tiny gun the size of the puppet. A tiny gun? Yeah, little six shooters.

SPEAKER_06 49:46

Little some men in black, you know, the little one, the little cricket.

SPEAKER_01 49:52

So I I think looking at this movie, like there's a lot that you can complain about. You know, the the editing on that scene was was kind of silly. Some of the makeup we get for for the people who are dead, but now they're like back is kind of silly. But I think looking at the actual puppets themselves, I mean, they're they're the stars of the show, like visually, and they last in your memory.

SPEAKER_05 50:10

No, I agree with that 100%. They're actually like my favorite part of this whole movie, especially uh jesters' facial reactions and Blade's eyes popping out of his head when he sees something that surprises him or excites him or disgusts him, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 50:25

Is that what that was? Where his eyes got like pokey?

SPEAKER_05 50:27

Yep, that his eyes were popping out of his head like whoa!

SPEAKER_04 50:31

Very expressive. Jesters' faces were awesome, and it took me a while to realize if they were actually changing or not from like the very first scene, and they were just like so satisfying in like those moments where he looks into the camera.

SPEAKER_06 50:42

Yeah, the effects on them don't seem cheap, you know. I mean, I just wish I had a little bit more screen time, but I have a ton of favorite parts, but it's really weird. You know what I didn't like? Like a scene I did not like? Ooh, it's when there's like the guy who's going around talking about each of their powers and they hyper focus on every single person. I was like, okay, this is too on the nose, this is too much. I was like, why is this? Like, I don't need to know.

SPEAKER_01 51:10

Because it's like Ocean 11, right? They have to highlight each character before they do their heist.

SPEAKER_04 51:15

But it's not done well. We don't get enough context to care about them. They just like say something, and we're like, okay.

SPEAKER_06 51:21

That's true to what he's explaining. I was like, okay, this is a little too much.

SPEAKER_05 51:27

And you, what's your power? I dream. Everybody dreams. Not of things to come. Okay, shut the fuck up, guy. You know that she's asking you what your fucking psychic ability is, that you just laid on her about everybody else. Why the fuck are you being so elitist and saying, I dream?

SPEAKER_04 51:41

Yeah. I also I feel the same way about like the moment before they like, I guess, all come together, and they're like, people are in a lab, and like I don't understand who was in the lab or why they were in the lab and what they were saying, and then there was like a phone call, and they were like, Are you being contacted? I I don't know what any of that was supposed to be. I think I get it. That was supposed to be their thing that like makes them meet up again, but like, man, was it ineffective.

SPEAKER_05 52:05

Yeah. Frank is gross. Oh, first off, they're they're trying to check the technology of their computer against the technology of a psychic's mind, apparently, and then wants her to describe her most explicit sexual fantasy, focusing on the details. I'm telling you, Frank is just a fucking exploit. That's all he is.

SPEAKER_03 52:23

Frank's a perv and a predator.

SPEAKER_04 52:25

I think going back to visual elements, my favorite, and I think it's mostly my favorite because I've never seen it before, is having the camera uh from the point of view of the puppets. Yeah, I love that. Yeah. And I think there's sometimes I I think I was already so not in it that it didn't even matter in some times where it maybe wasn't perfect or it felt like a little uh cheesy or like forced or something. I just actually, I just just at that point I had to just let it go. And I enjoyed that that feeling of seeing things from their perspective and like running down the hallways. I do think it's a little silly and unrealistic, but for this chaos in this movie, might as well have something fun like that.

SPEAKER_05 53:05

I loved it. I loved seeing Blade knock on the door with his little hook hand.

SPEAKER_04 53:09

That hook was so strong. He did a lot with that hook, okay? That thing was not coming loose. He's a capable man. He also had one hook and one switchblade that pops out. Like your boy has no fingers, we just run him with utensils, okay? Swiss Army doll. Exactly.

SPEAKER_06 53:22

I could totally see that right now.

SPEAKER_03 53:24

Blade was definitely giving me Joan Rivers slash Michael Jackson vibes. But I think my favorite visual is just the whole design of the leech woman. Uh, because it it comes out of nowhere. Like that the moment we're introduced to this character, she just kind of like shows up on the side of the bed in an evening gown, and we're like, what? And then she just proceeds to unhinge her jaw and just gag out those leeches for a very long time. Uh, and just the I love the effects that they did that you were talking about earlier, Alexis. Um, so for me, she's the MVP of these puppets.

SPEAKER_05 53:53

Most valuable puppet. I love it.

SPEAKER_03 53:54

She also looked the creepiest. She did. And the most beautiful at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 53:58

She's like one of the like ghostly characters we get these days in movies, right? Where they're like really pale and the hair is long and her eyes are like like blacked out. Um, yet she's like slim and slender, and she's got that weird ass voice that happens, you know, the oh.

SPEAKER_06 54:14

Yeah, she was awkwardly attractive for a puppet with leeches in her mouth.

SPEAKER_04 54:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 54:19

Remember when you said you think puppeteers have to have a thing for their creatures, these beautiful creatures? I feel like maybe you do a little bit. Possibly.

SPEAKER_06 54:26

I mean, it was a good-looking puppet. That's what they all say. Would you have swiped right on her? Nah, I would have been like, can you open your mouth bigger? She's not blonde. Oh, yeah, she is not blonde. So yeah, I would swipe right.

SPEAKER_01 54:39

She was just goth Barbie, that's all.

SPEAKER_06 54:41

Yeah, totally my type.

SPEAKER_05 54:42

Swipe right. As we're talking about the puppets, I think one of my favorite scenes is the moment where we see their layers. So in the beginning, right, you have their loyalty to their creator. Blade is running around and he's frantic and he's panicked. And you can hear, he's like, he he sounds concerned and worried. And then you have that beautifully intimate moment of you know, the the puppet master holding him and saying, I'm gonna protect you, everything's gonna be fine. What a what a pity we didn't have more time together, right? Love that. Then you see them being homicidal, and it's like, what the fuck? But then you see them turn on him, and it was when he throws pinhead, and then when he hits Megan, and Blade pulls out his blade, and it's like, nobody touches Miss Megan, and it was just the most precious thing. They all start like banding together and make this decision silently among them. They're like, nah, fucking Neil's going down, not a fan. Love that.

SPEAKER_01 55:39

These puppets are definitely capable of making the right choice, and that comes up in later films where they're not the bad guys, and I think that's a really cool concept. And I haven't actually seen very many of them. I've only seen come of the some of the come like early ones, right? But I I I honestly kind of want to go back and watch more in the series, like in order, in some order. I don't know if it's chronological or in order of release because they're all out of sync in terms of chronology, but I'll send you the chronology. Yeah, I would be interested in that because it'd be kind of fun to see where they're actually the good guys, because when they turn into the good guys at the end, it's actually kind of satisfying because they seem decent sometimes, and then they're also like brutal other times. That that last moment is is utterly fantastic. I really liked that first scene though, where we actually get to see the Puppet Master, the titular character of this film, like you know, seeing his creations or his friends or whatever they are to him, and that's definitely something you see in later films, is where he has this caring uh like nature about him, although in some films he's not so caring. So it's all out of whack in in Puppet Master movies. It's kind of great in that way because you know, characters are all different all over the map, but I I think that part is probably my favorite. It's just that opening scene where we get to see the actual Puppet Master, not as this like nefarious character that's like out to kill everybody, but as this apparent like magic dude who has tiny little creatures that he apparently loves.

SPEAKER_04 57:11

Yeah, I agree. I think for me the opening scene is the richest, it's like the most full of feeling where I maybe cared about him a little bit, I maybe cared about why the guys are coming, and I maybe cared about the little puppet running down the hallway, real stressed. Um I don't have a lot of value on a lot of other scenes in the movie, and so the beginning has gotta be it. It's the part that made me be like, okay, I think I'll get into this, I can watch this, I'll give this a chance. And then it just went downhill.

SPEAKER_03 57:41

You guys are talking a lot about how the puppets, you know, they evoked things in you. Like Chris, you said there was a moment with the puppets that was beautifully intimate. Um, and I think that's where it just missed for me because I didn't really get much personality from the puppets. It seems like I missed a lot. Um, and they just really they weren't hidden. Um, I really got more into the psychics uh in this film. Um, specifically, my favorite scene is when Carissa is in the bathtub, because of course it is. One, visually, those green tiles and those pink towels is just like exquisite to look at. And then two, she's just like sexy in this tub, and you that's when I really figured out like, oh, she's like just a sex psychic, which I didn't know was a thing. And she's like talking about like the two women that spent their leave in this bathtub together, and then she's like laying in the bath the entire leave, which sounds like the pruniest experience you could ever have. But just like her feeling herself and like having her moment in that bathtub. I was like, okay, this is this is what I'm gonna capture from this movie, and I'm gonna remember like the energy she's giving me in this the next time I take a bath.

SPEAKER_01 58:44

I have a question though. So her power, she can touch an object and sense the history and the experiences attached to that object, right? So what happens when she sits on a toilet? Ew.

SPEAKER_04 58:54

Feels uncomfortable. You would think that. There's a lot of objects you don't want to know the history of.

SPEAKER_06 59:00

Most of them are in public places. Ooh, yeah. You know, although I did give this movie like a slash, there was never like a scene that really stood out to me as being the best scene. Um, I mean, Neil's death was great. I don't know. I just felt like this movie was just kind of, you know, it was there, worth a watch. I just don't think anything stood out to me. And I felt the same way about the characters. For some reason, like some of the characters that you do get in B movies, in my opinion, not very stagnant, but just like very like, okay, these are the characters. Maybe you're not supposed to feel a certain way. They're just doing their job in the movie. And that's kind of how I felt during this. I was like, okay, I don't have a favorite character, I don't have a worse character. I mean, the characters collectively that I would appreciate are the puppets, and I know we've dived deep into that. Um, but yeah, I don't know. No, no, no one stood out to me for for some odd reason.

SPEAKER_04 59:52

I fully agree with you. I think, especially the psychics here, it just they meant nothing to me. I think the character that comes out on top, literally for me, is um Megan. I think she has more than she like gives off. Um, like there's more going on there. At least that's what the ending makes it feel like. It makes like she it makes it seem like she already knows about you know these secrets and she's the one in control, even though he thought he was, stuff like that. She's the only person that all the way to the end I cared about, but even that it literally did not come until that very last climaxic scene, and then also the very, very end, of course. So she was it again. I I agree with you. I didn't care.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:34

I liked Dana.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:35

Of course you did.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:36

Because of course I did.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:38

Your spirit animal, really.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:39

Yeah, the scene where she's first the scene where she's um giving like the fortune at the carnival, and she the the girl's like, Will he get a real job? And she's like, I see retail sales. Construction. Yeah, she's just making shit up. That got me good.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:55

Construction at a retail store. It was great.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:58

And then later when she's at the dinner, just kind of like being a bitch for no reason. I was like, This is Dana's trying to take this to a place of like a real housewife's dinner and no one else is having it. And also she's just getting trash. So I was like, you know what, Dana? I feel you. And she put up the best fight.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:12

I do think it's interesting that she would be a real psychic and then pose as a fake psychic. She just, you know, pad the numbers every once in a while, get that residual income.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:21

Yeah, like mid-fake vision. She had a real vision.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:24

You gotta pay the bills. I think for me, I wanted to see her try to pull it off and figure out like how she was gonna show, like what she would say to them. Like, because obviously she's not gonna tell them what happened and she's in the middle of it, so she's gonna be like, Oh, I see necklaces because she's holding onto her neck, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:39

I didn't relate to any of these characters, so I'm glad you guys could find something from it. I just I feel like the puppets were the best part of the movie, and the characters were actually the worst part of the movie. I mean, we get a character that's supposed to be the like the hero, the protagonist of this film, that you you're literally like, dude, you own one Oxford shirt, like good for you, and you're kind of standoffish and you turn down I don't know, seems like a fun night with Dana. I don't know why you did. She seems really cool.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:07

I mean, I'd have to tell her to stop doing all the candles and crap, but he also slept in slacks and a button-up, knocked out of sleep, having dreams, slacks and button-up.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:16

He didn't bring a change of clothes. No, and I don't appreciate that. It only takes one backpack, okay? You can fit like three days worth of clothes in there.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:23

Interesting though, because he unpacked something and put it in the dresser. To which I responded, who the fuck unpacks in a hotel room?

SPEAKER_07 1:02:29

Oh, psychopaths.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:31

Uh okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:33

Thanks. Uh yeah, definitely if I'm staying a week or more. Yeah. Or if I'm like somewhere where I want all my outfits laid out, like when I went to Mexico. Like I was like, I need to see all my stuff, and I don't want it just in a suitcase. So I had them all out.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:48

Did you put them in the closet like hanging up, or did you actually put in the dresser your socks here, your underwear here, your pants here? I did both. The dresser is a weird. Yeah, I don't know who you are.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:00

I'm okay with hanging clothes because I don't like it when my clothes get wrinkles in them. Like I'll literally wash it if it's too wrinkled and then redry it again because wrinkles really gross me out when I'm touching my skin.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:10

Irons and steamers exist.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:11

Or a steamer. Well, yeah, but it's just not the same. I like to like you take a t-shirt straight out of the dryer, it goes right onto a hanger, it goes right in the closet. So you get nice and smooth.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:20

None of my t-shirts are hanging. Oh, I hang my t-shirts, but they're wrinkled.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:26

I'm so disappointed.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:27

You've never taken anything straight out the dryer.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:29

Wow. Well, no. So anyway, uh, no, apparently I'm the weird one here. That's cool. But I'm not because it's the right thing to do. Get the wrinkles out of your clothes, guys. Come on.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:39

You're the android.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:40

But character-wise, you know, this it was it was kind of like a messy t-shirt to me. It's all wrinkled and all creased, and I didn't want to wear it. But the puppets, though, the puppets were the best part. They were the best characters. They were so individual. They each like, I feel like they each had a story that I wanted to hear about, but we didn't get to.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:58

Yeah. Jester's attitude is what I cared the most about. When he looked into the camera, I was like, that's my boy. I don't like him that much, but it was funny.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:06

I want a version of this where Jester like breaks the fourth wall often.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:10

Just looks into the camera, you know, like Jim from the office and is like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:14

Yeah, it could have been that. Comes out like uh in Mortal Kombat 3 when if you hit a certain combo, this guy comes out and says, Toasty, like out of the corner, just to acknowledge the absurdity of what's just happened. Exactly. You're 100% right though. Like the characters, although they are the main people and we see them more often than we do the puppets, they're not supposed to be like the real heroes of the story. They're not supposed to be the real heart and soul of it. And I really do agree that they would they should have spent more time giving you just a little bit more of the puppets, more of the backstory. It would have been a far uh far more productive use of time than what was my worst part of this whole movie, and that is the third act, which is unfortunate. Uh and specifically within the third act, because not even like I totally disagree with the end result, right? Like this one plus one equals two situation, it's fine. However, audio is important, sound matters in movies. For example, the 1978 Halloween, they played it for a test audience, no score. Everybody was like, What the fuck is this? Terrible movie. Added John Carpenter's now iconic score, and it completely changed the perception of it. They took the faintest tune of melody in this movie, and during the fight with Neil and the puppets in the elevator, it was so long, so drowned out, and so barely audible that all you heard was like the punching sound effects, and it ruined the entire fucking scene for me. I could have probably forgiven it had it had better sound.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:42

The punching and the leeches, that's like all you got, like the the leech gagging, which went for so long.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:50

They honestly could have shortened that entire scene and shown us less, and it would have been so much better. Like just hint to the fact that they're going to take him out. Give us a little Punch, a little drill, and then cut away.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:02

Yeah, or just the last bit where it all happens, like it all comes to be. I didn't need to see the the leech coming out of her mouth for 30 minutes. I almost vomited. It was horrible.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:13

Also, did not need to see Alex fucking screaming, no, stop. Why? What? Yes, why?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:19

Why? 100% why.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:21

He was just trying to kill you, dude. That's that's how they could have made it better, honestly. Was to have him looking in, unable to open the door, say absolutely nothing, just show an amazing reaction on his face and some occasional really cool sounds, perhaps. And then that's all. That's all we would need. I would have just liked for Alex to die. Why didn't he die? I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:42

Why did anything?

SPEAKER_06 1:06:43

Yeah, for that that being like the two that save the day, like it was just kind of not fitting, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:50

They didn't even save the day. The puppets saved the day. They were just side effects of the puppets saving the day. Really, just yeah, collateral, not damage.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:59

Yeah, that that's confusing to me, but also like the storyline is very confusing. And maybe I like missed a part, but I I get all of them are friends. Um, I don't understand what the puppets had to do with Neil, though. Did Neil take them?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:15

So that's that's the interesting part to me because I think that's one of the things that was such a letdown is they didn't really take all of the threads and wrap them together nicely. And that was the worst part of this.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:25

Same.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:26

Is like some great opportunities to weave a really cool, intricate story that they were just like, nah, they'll get it. Like, I don't know what it is they're gonna get, but they'll they'll they'll put it together.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:35

Did not.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:36

And yeah, so like watching this, I like I get why things are happening, but it's just not as as well done as it could be. I mean, when we think about this, the story, it's so ridiculous. I mean, that's fine. It's a big movie. I want it to be a little bit ridiculous. Did his knowledge that he gained, you know, from reading these his these papers or whatever that he discovered, is that what made them follow him? Is that why they're working for him now because he has transcended life?

SPEAKER_04 1:08:01

So I have some parts of this, and then you guys can help with the parts that I don't understand. So basically, Neil went to find the puppet secrets. So that that floor that they went to that was like dark and like construction and stuff, that's where Andre's room was and where the puppets were hidden, right? So uh presumably, I don't know that for a fact, but that's what I'm understanding. And so Neil went to find the secrets, supposedly found them, found the puppets, found the you know, explanation for how did he find this? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:34

Okay, psychic. So that's why he was into this hotel so much. Uh you know, that's why they wanted to he wanted to help like own it and run it so he could renovate and just like the floor is off limits while I search for this crap.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:44

He basically, yeah, just wanted to like tear up. That's why he he uses his psychic powers. Maybe, maybe somehow he knows about this hotel, he finds it and then decides he can use the woman to be able to get into it, rip it apart, discover what he needs to discover. What I don't understand is what these four people had beef with Neil about. They basically were just like, we used to be friends, and now we're here to make it even. And I don't understand what that meant at all.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:09

So it sounds like he was trying to be Professor X.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:12

Yeah, I was like, is this low budget X-Men?

SPEAKER_01 1:09:14

Yeah, and he was trying to get them all together, but it was unclear if it was for research or if he was just like trying to control a group of psychics for his own like cool projects. It seemed it seemed when they were talking about him more like he wanted to get them together and like figure out how things worked, perhaps.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:32

Chris, do you have any other insight on any of this?

SPEAKER_05 1:09:35

Yeah. So the gathering there is that he grouped them all together, he brought them together probably to exploit their abilities and also probably tried to rip them off in some way, causing them to not harbor the best of feelings, but also knowing that if they were contacted, he must have found something and there is something more important than their beef at the moment.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:53

I would say very flawed plot, but I got it. Aside from that, I'll give you my best part. And it's not because it makes any sense or anything like that. It's just because it's fun and and it almost like capitalizes on the story not making sense. And the best part for me is the very last scene where Megan is walking up the steps and we have the not real dog that is suddenly a real dog. It doesn't make any sense. There's no reason for it. I think that the concept is that she really has control over the puppets and she's been um in on it the whole time, but it's just absolute buffoonery, and I love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:30

I think the puppets are kind of secondary for her. I think really she also dug into those secrets of you know how to make other beings or maybe even make yourself like transcend death. And that was really the focus of of both of them as a married couple, apparently. And perhaps he didn't know that she was also digging into it behind him or after he killed himself. Um, but I think that's what like her focus was. She probably didn't really care about the whole like puppet thing and didn't want to use them, but he was just like, why not? They're a tool.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:59

Or she already knew before.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:01

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:02

That's what I like to think. She already knew, and that's why they defended her. Those are her puppets, not his.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:08

It's like when you get a pet and they fall in love with your significant other.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:11

Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:11

Oh, it sounds like the worst thing. It happens.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:14

Also, coming from Team Hack, uh, I'll say that my favorite part of this movie was actually a very small detail that I noticed. Um, when we see Dana's death, uh you can see that she has this like big slash across her throat. Um, and the latex effects or whatever they used for the practical effects are, they weren't the best. But what I loved is that they used her positioning and her giant dangly earring to cover up the seam on most of the neck, the neck makeup. And I was like, you know what, special effects guy, I see you, or girl, and I appreciate what you're doing there.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:45

Nice tactics. A classy move. Doing what we can. It means no blood rage with a decapitated head hanging from a front porch, but you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:52

They did what they could with what they had.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:54

Precisely.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:54

Can we also just take a brief moment to appreciate the craftsmanship that went into Pinhead's little tiny turtleneck?

SPEAKER_04 1:12:00

And his big old arms.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:02

I saw that sweater, I was like, this man's in a turtleneck. He's just trying to live his life. It can't be that scary.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:08

Talk about craftsmanship. Pinhead's hands are real human hands that a little person had to portray on screen and literally like duck behind him the whole time, which is so impressive and would be like impossible to do.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:23

He does have fake hands in one bit when he's actually getting out of the casket, but I much preferred his real fake hands. They were great.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:31

When we can still sit back and consider this. Now, you know, we've hashed out a bit of the plot. Maybe some of the things that were confusing or potentially just like poorly explored within the movie. Do you think this is something you would give another watch?

SPEAKER_03 1:12:44

Oh god, no.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:44

I totally would. I kind of want to watch the other ones too, because find out which one I actually watched the first time.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:50

Like I said, I'd be down for some others to give them a chance if I had thoughts or recommendations that it would be a good one. But this one I don't need to watch it again.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:59

I could do it in another 20 years. It's been about that since the last time I watched it, probably 14 times, you know, like every week it was on was on TV. Um, yeah, I think it does have high watchability for the franchise. I think this is something that you could watch and don't take it too seriously, obviously, because it is you know a series of B movies. But uh as part of the franchise, sure. I I think I would be down to kind of dig in more, find more about the stories, apparently go back in time and see what happens in the past. That'd be cool.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:28

Excited to watch this with you in your 50.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:30

When I'm 50. Is that 20 years from now?

SPEAKER_06 1:13:33

Aren't you 30 is yeah?

SPEAKER_01 1:13:36

I'll be in my 50s, yes. Yeah, 20 years.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:39

This is how we'll spend your 55th birthday.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:41

Yeah, watching this dusty old flick.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:44

For a dusty old thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:45

Yeah, that'll it'll be a good time. And maybe by that point we'll have discovered the secrets of of living forever. And uh, you know, people people won't take it because they think the government will track them with it, but whatever.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:58

That's not how math works. You gonna be 50, just accept it. I would definitely watch this again. It's something that I would not like skyrocket to the top of any list, but if I for sure was in the mood for just like a silly thing to have on in the background, uh, this would be in the mix 100%. And there's actually yeah, this is a problem. I don't have a lot of vices in my life, but when I do like things, I do like to collect things. I don't like this enough to buy this, but there are people out there who are, and oh my, the craftsmanship looks great. For $300, there is a Puppet Master collectible trunk that has all the movies and even some action figures of some of the dolls.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:37

Ooh, that's cute.

SPEAKER_06 1:14:38

I did see the action figures are like a hit on eBay. I'm like, interesting.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:43

Yeah, and I I believe they're also signed by the producer of this film. But also, I just gotta point out uh this guy he has like a whole shop section on this website, and this is the producer of the film, right? From Full Moon Features directly. He has like a bra for women that's just boobs.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:02

What? What?

SPEAKER_05 1:15:03

And his he is inspired to make a line of products that is just monster boobs to have them as bras.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:11

Oh my god. With nipples? I need to see this.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:14

Is it a nipple print on the outside of your bra, which would be hilarious? No, it's 3D.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:19

A fully sculpted monster breast. There's a split reaction on this. Half the team is like, no, thank you. The other half is like, I've already bought one.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:26

Maybe great for small boobs.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:28

I'm always up for anywhere where like sexy and spooky crosses over.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:33

I'm never up for that. Ever.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:35

This is the Walmart bra that she they just like glued this onto.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:38

The idea of a costume bra where a woman's breasts become creatures, eyeballs, flowers, bigger breasts, etc., came to me during one inspired night and it quickly put some prototypes together and went to visit our Halloween friends. No, I don't like it now. They freaked out over the bras and called the idea the most original they had seen in years. He has a lot of yes men around him and had volunteers. Parentheses, hot chicks exclamation point in every city. Put them on and join me on stage.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:03

Everybody's fired, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:16:04

The audiences loved the bras, and to date, we've had over 1,000 emails from people asking how and where they can find them. Also, none of this has apostrophes, it just has space. Yep.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:13

It's all real weird, man. I'll drop a link in the show notes if you also want to check out the Monster Bra, the bigger bra, or Monster Bra, the Lip Bra 888. Uh, it could be yours for the low, low price of $24.99.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:25

This is the worst fake sponsor we've ever made.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:27

Yeah, except it's tragically real. But here's the here's the thing, right? Uh, you get one of these bras, you get the $300 collector set of the Puppet Master franchise, you just watch them all back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back to back. And there you have it.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:41

I think if we revisit the idea and have women design it for women, it could be good.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:46

Obviously, we've discussed quite a bit tonight, and we've answered some questions that we ourselves have. Uh, you know, we've had some tidbits from Alexis about the gore and some of the puppeteering, but let's see what Mac has up his sleeve in fact or fiction.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:59

Let's find out. Number one, senor green blood squirting from the fingers has said green blood because the wrong coloring agent was purchased, and the director decided, eh, let's run with it. It looks kind of cool.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:10

Oh no, feels intentional, feels like an ode to phantasm. I'm going fiction. Fact.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:15

100% team Ryan here. That's exactly what I thought. Fact uh fiction.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:19

It is a fiction. The blood was made green to avoid that dreaded X-rating.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:23

Ooh. Really?

SPEAKER_01 1:17:25

Yeah, apparently cutting off someone's fingers was too much back then.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:28

But the drill to the face, that was fine.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:31

But did you see it happening?

SPEAKER_04 1:17:32

Nope.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:33

Exactly. Number two, the puppets are only on screen for a total of 15 minutes.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:38

Fact. Fact.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:39

Yeah, fact or less, because the most of the time you're just at their POV.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:44

Or fiction. It's 15 minutes and one second.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:46

It is a fiction. They have less than five minutes of screen time.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:50

Wow. And I thought 15 minutes wasn't even a lot. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:53

This is the prices right here. You have to go under or or exactly the same. God damn it.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:57

Yeah, they messed up there.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:58

They they they did. We love those puppets. Give us some more. Okay, number three. The beautiful Bodega Bay Hotel was nothing more than beautiful artwork, hand painted and layered onto real footage in production.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:08

Oh, fact. There's a shot, and I'm like, mm-mm, that's not real.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:12

Yeah, fact. They used that shot twice, and it was very shoddily done. Fact. Fiction people. There's puppets. Okay, there's puppets. It was a miniature. It was about the size of a fridge. It was hung in the air and made to look life-sized with the magic of forced perspective. Okay, but that shot is like very dirty.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:30

I hate it. There are a lot of things very dirty, just like the fucking carpet in Alex's room. It's the worst set design I've ever seen. That wasn't even the renovated part of the hotel. It was cut in like 15 places.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:40

If you're gonna have carpet, you gotta make it at least good carpet.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:42

Also, if you're gonna show the camera from the six inches off the ground, you should look at the carpet. And I digress.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:49

Number four, the part of the scene in which Pinhead crawls out of the coffin is about 17 seconds, but it took two days to film.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:55

Fact.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:55

I'll say fact just because that scene looked like it had like Beetlejuice level CGI effects going on. Fact. Yeah, it's a fact.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:02

It's not CGI though, it's stop motion. It's not easy. Remember Ben from Parks and Rec? Yeah, it takes a while to make a small amount of stop motion.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:10

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:11

Leading us into number five. Puppet Master has more sequels than both Friday the 13th and Halloween.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:17

Sounds about right. I mean, there's 13. I don't know how many are in either of those other franchises. I wish I didn't knew now, but uh the gamble you take.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:25

You can take a moment to consider.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:27

Uh I'm just gonna say fact. I'm just gonna bandwagon with Alexis and say fact.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:33

I'm gonna say fiction because I feel like Friday the 13th has to have at least 13 movies or more.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:37

Oh, good guess. It does not, however. So Puppet Master has more sequels. So there's 14 films. There's going to be a standalone Blade film. Is Puppet Master seconded only by maybe like the MCU films in this regard? That's a lot of films.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:54

So plot twist, it's actually by the time this Halloween trilogy is done, Puppet Master will be outdone. Halloween currently sits at 12 movies in the franchise.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:04

Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Well, maybe Puppet Master will come out with like three straight to streaming videos, like before then. You never know.

SPEAKER_07 1:20:12

No, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:13

I mean, maybe Halloween will be pushed back another year. Like the trend is is going that way. So don't put that out there. Relax.

SPEAKER_05 1:20:20

Chris needs to be okay, chill. Yeah. Don't put that shit out in the universe. Take it back now.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:24

I take it back, but that's the end of fact or fiction.

SPEAKER_05 1:20:26

Well, there we have it, folks. We've learned a lot. Uh maybe learn a lot about ourselves too, and uh what kind of bras we would or would not purchase. But that's neither here nor there because Puppet Master has earned three slashes and two hacks. We've had a lot to talk about here, but obviously there's so much to this franchise, and none of us know the entire franchise in its entirety. So please let us know your thoughts on this movie and others. Uh keep in mind there are a lot of ways you can reach out to us starting with our website, hackerslash.com. And on our Facebook and Instagram and Twitter.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:57

If you are really into puppets, either in a weird way or a not weird way, you can leave us an audio message on our contact page, it's hackerslash.com slash contact. Or you can hit us up at the Hacker Slash Hotline at 757-606-0128, or you can text us or call us.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:12

Or if you've recently been reanimated as a puppet, you can send us an email to feedback at hackerslash.com with your little puppet fingers.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:19

And hey, if you've enjoyed listening to this podcast, consider becoming one of our patrons. You can visit patreon.com slash hacker slash to earn cool perks for as low as one dollar a month, or consider supporting us by checking out our merch page at hackerslash.com slash merch.

SPEAKER_05 1:21:33

We'll see you next time. Bye.