Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich is the 13th movie in the series. It reboots the story and makes the puppets evil little Nazis. The screenplay is by S Craig Zahler and Sonny Laguna & Tommy Wiklund are the directors. Exec Prod Charles Band was the co-writer of the original movie but he didn't have much of anything to do with this picture. It's not even a Full Moon Production, Cinestate is the production company and it's being distributed by RJLE Films. That last company used to be called Image Entertainment and they started back in 1981 distributing laser discs.
Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich is set modern day and most of the action takes place in a hotel. Owners of Andre Toulon's puppets are gathering there for an auction. It's an old hotel in a small town. Thomas Lennon is a comic store clerk who's brother had a doll. The brother died some time before the movie starts. Thomas decides to take the doll to the auction, he also takes his new girlfriend and the owner of the comic shop. They aren't all so lucky when the puppets are given life by an electrically charged Andre Toulon, played by Udo Kier. They start stabbing and slashing and the hotel guests start toppling left and right. The sheriff, Michael Pare, arrives and tries to gain control of the situation. He doesn't believe the dolls are alive until he gets attacked by one. There's a few other people in the cast that I recognize, Barbara Crampton, Jenny Pellicer, Matthias Hues and Charlyne Yi.
The puppets have been revamped too, there's more of them and some of them are similar to ones in the first movie. The effects are pretty good and I enjoyed it for the most part. I'd give it a 6 and would pick up a copy but not until it's real cheap. I got the first 9 Puppet Master movies in a set with the 3 Killjoy movies for under 10 bucks brand new. If I don't get a copy of this new one it won't matter.
Path Of Blood is a 2013 animated feature about a ronin. It's written and directed by Eric Power. It's done in a cut paper style, think Southpark. The story is set in 1614, at the start of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which is a pretty awful time for anyone who wasn't really rich. It tells a story filled with blood spouts and flying body parts. The story is a lot like a lot of Samurai movies and I swear that there are scenes that seem similar to something I had seen before. At one point the characters move on and sitting on the side of the path is a baby cart, similar to the one in the Lone Wolf And Cub movies.
It's pretty well done, though I don't care that much for the style. It's my least favorite thing about Southpark. I did find I liked the scenery better than the facial design of the characters. I can see that it was a labor of love and a hell of a lot of work for Eric. Good on ya, Eric. He got some people to help him put together a nice soundtrack too. I gave it a 6 but I'm still not sold on getting a copy. If you might be, there's a Blu-ray at Hamilton Book that's only a ten spot.
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