William
Hickey shows up as Andre Toulon, the creator of the puppets and their original
master who will play an important role in much of the franchise. The opening
shots, which are also reused frequently, introduce Toulon, the puppets, how
they move, how we see their Point of View, and their storage case. It, and
almost all of the first two films (as well as four and five) takes place in the
Bodega Bay Inn. This California hotel is an important locale for much of the
franchise. It also doesn’t exist, and in fact is a nice little model shot in
forced perspective by a cliff. (Introducing more shots that get reused frequently.)
Toulon is pursued and kills himself before the Nazi agents can get the secret
of the living puppets from him, or the location of their hidden case. (This
conflict is the core of much of the franchise, and we will learn more about
that starting in Part III.)
There
are some glimpses of puppets here and in other flashbacks that aren’t part of
the main group we follow through the rest of the films. First, a quick roll call of the ones introduced here.
Blade-
The leader. He has a white face based on Klaus Kinski, wears a black trenchcoat
and fedora. His hands are a knife and a hook. His eyes also have spikes that
pop out of them, just as often to show comic surprise as to pierce an
unsuspecting person’s hand. The spikes sadly stop showing up in the cheaper
outings. Sounds- Some light chuckles, gasps and light hisses.
Leech
Woman- A beautiful porcelain doll… who can make her face look horrific, and
sometimes carries a small knife. However, her main attack is hyperextending her
jaw and vomiting out enormous leeches, half the size of her body, in large
numbers. Only a few will drain a person to lethal levels. Sounds- mostly girly
gasps and “oh”s, not counting the “appropriate” (possibly the wrong word)
vocalizations when vomiting up the leeches.
Pinhead-
Teeny little head on a big sweater wearing body. By far the strongest of the
puppets, with oversized (in fact- human sized) hands. Those hands made showing
him performing tasks much easier than the others. They also punch with non puppet sized power and often wield bludgeoning objects. For the early films his hands
were performed by actor and stunt performer Debbie Lee Carrington, Thumbelina
from Total Recall. Sounds- Not really any.
Tunneller-
Has a face based on Mussolini but a Germanic uniform. He also has a triangular
drill bit that covers the entire top of his head. He’s the puppet that does THE
MOST DAMAGE to whoever is unfortunate enough to cross them. Sounds- Not really
any...except the ominous whirring.
Jester-
An easily worried jester. Kind of the conscience of the group. Doesn’t often
participate in the violence, but how he is treated affects how the other
puppets will behave towards that person. His face is in three horizontal
sections that spin to show various reactions. Does have the same “mischievous”
streak as the others when pushed to it. Sounds- gasps of the “oh no” variety
mostly.
The
lore is only hinted at here, there’s a peek at an Egyptian scroll and some
indication of a fluid that keeps the puppets alive.
The
key to why these films are cool, over and above the puppet designs is that
there is almost always more to them than just the puppets. Living puppets are sort
of a side effect of trying to reach immortality, which never quite works
correctly. Also, multiple kinds of psychics are usually involved, drawn to the
energy (or something) of the living puppets.
The
kick off movie introduces a bunch of psychic types, invited by the widow of one
of their own they have all worked with to her husband’s funeral at the Bodega
Bay. There’s a carnival fortune teller who really is a witch (with a
taxidermized dog.) There’s a cameo by Barbara Crampton, from multiple Empire Pictures films in the witch’s introduction, a nice bridge between the two
studios. The main psychic, and a rare appearance of a third actor that may be
recognizable from elsewhere in one of these, is Alex, played by Paul Le Mat, (American
Grafffiti) who has prophetic dreams and works at a version of Yale
University that is in the middle of the woods. There’s also a creepy, balding
with a ponytail, researcher and his younger partner. She can tell the sexual
history of a location. (Because there’s a reason these were featured on late night
cable.)
The
dead psychic married the hotel owner, because he was hunting for Toulon’s
secrets, and this was his last known location. The first evidence that he found
them is his corpse keeps moving around. His goal was using Toulon’s work and
Ancient Egyptian stuff to achieve immortality. See, the puppets really were a
side effect.
Surprise,
he found the secret, and wants (and except for Alex gets) revenge on the other
psychics for doubting him, or something. The maid is also undead. Very early on
the conscience of the puppets is displayed. After he punches his wife, and more
importantly swats Jester across the room, they all turn on him, making him
bleed out green before dying… again. I wonder if that green fluid will be
important later?
The
undead maid is not accounted for in the finale. Alex seems to be close with the
widow when he leaves, and she keeps the taxidermized dog, which wakes up. In
many franchises, this would be the link to the next installment. However…
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