Horror franchise reboots: three words filmgoers know all too well. And with these three words comes the baggage of cinematic fatigue, a notion that Hollywood’s well of originality went dry years ago, with even newer properties in the horror realm like Saw and Paranormal Activity already past their prime and ready for retirement homes.
But the tide seems to be turning. In the same week, audiences received with enthusiasm trailers for a remake of Dario Argento’s masterpiece Suspiria that foregoes the original’s neon color palette in favor of muted earth tones and a (potentially) more realistic depiction of witchcraft, as well as a new Halloween film that scraps every sequel in the series and serves as a “proper” continuation of the 1978 narrative—bold moves on the part of each film’s production companies, to be sure. One might even say anti-Hollywood, given tinseltown’s recent proclivity toward playing things safe and taking as few risks as possible.
But over at Cinestate, the company behind Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich, the latest installment of seminal 80s franchise, things couldn’t be more anti-Hollywood. Sure, there are plenty of horror movie tropes on display here—gore and nudity among them—but there seems to be more at play here than at first meets the eye, a narrative reflecting the miasma of hate and violence belching out from the ripped and ragged seams of the American flag.
Early buzz around the film indicated The Littlest Reich would be a more tongue-in-cheek take on the material, and indeed, the idea of evil, semi-sentient, four-inch-tall puppets wreaking havoc on people is a tad silly, so why not have fun with it? The producers enlisted the Swedish directing duo of Sonny Laguna and Tommy Wiklund, known for low-budget, entertaining B-movies. Barbara Crampton, star of the original Puppet Master as well as 80s splatter classic Re-Animator, came on board in an extended cameo role. Fabio Frizzi, esteemed composer behind numerous Lucio Fulci films provided a synthwave score (in addition to a reworking of the original Puppet Master theme arranged by original composer Richard Band). And comedian Thomas Lennon (The State, Reno 911, Santa Clarita Diet, Archer, the list goes on) joined the cast as main character Edgar. How could this not be a fun, funny nostalgia trip?
And indeed, the film’s first act plays for laughs. Recently divorced Edgar, a comic book writer, begrudgingly moves back in with doting, supportive mother and “asshole cop dad.” Awkward family dynamics ensue. His work life at a comic book shop isn’t much better, where he puts up with his lazy, off putting boss and best friend Markowitz (Nelson Franklin). However, Edgar has one bright spot in his life, a romance with Ashley (Jenny Pellicer), the sister of an old childhood friend with a whip-smart sense of humor. Shades of Shawn of the Dead and the broader work of Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick frost should instantly come to mind here.
But remember, this is a film written by S. Craig Zahler, of Bone Tomahawk and Brawl in Cell Block 99 fame—two incredibly violent and disturbing films, if you’re not aware. We learn early on that, in this “reimagining” of the series, the titular Puppet Master Andre Toulon was a Nazi sympathizer who created his army of tiny killers to further Hitler’s genocide of “undesirables,” and it’s not much of a spoiler to say that this is exactly what happens. The mass slaughter occurs at a convention in rural Texas revolving around the “infamous Toulon Murders” of thirty years prior, where avid collectors of the bigot’s handiwork convene to sell their puppets for a hefty sum.
As the carnage grows more and more extreme—with one scene in particular so explicitly graphic it seems impossible it could ever make it past the censors—the laughs diminish steadily. We are, in fact, watching instruments of hate systematically eviscerating Jews, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ community, while only harming “pure” people if they get in the puppets’ way. One immediately begins to feel uncomfortable viewing such scenes of violence against minorities—until you realize that discomfort is the desired reaction. We aren’t watching gore for gore’s sake (although immense credit must be given to the film’s effects team, lead by Tate Steinsiek, for creating such visceral, realistic, and upsetting visuals, some of the best on display in recent years); rather, this is gore for the sake of social commentary, in grand the tradition of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, Brian Yuzna’s Society, and Takashi Miike’s Audition, among other titles.
If viewers aren’t convinced of this, the final exchange of dialogue in the film clues us in to the larger thematic designs of the filmmakers. One of the survivors of the second wave of Toulon murders bases a fictional book on his experiences and at a signing, a fan says comments that it seems a lot of awful things happened to people who didn’t deserve their brutal fates.
The survivor nods, and says he tried to base it on reality that way.
Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich screened as part of the 18th annual deadCenter Film Festival. It opens theatrically in America on August 17th, 2018. Listen to our full The Cinematic Schematic podcast interview with producer Amanda Presmyk.
