Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge 1991 - An Educational Public Service
Ah
yes. We have reached the absolute pinnacle of the franchise for story, lore,
effects and performances. It also establishes what type of tales the franchise
shines in, which are times the puppets assist the downtrodden against Nazis and
their ilk. The opening of the first film briefly mentions the Nazis chasing
Toulon, but there was no review of why that happened until this one. Granted, the German
accents do come and go, but you can’t have everything.
New
Puppet in This One-
Six
Shooter- Toulon’s stereotypical American. A long torsoed cowboy with a maniacal
grin, a pencil mustache, a bandana that moves to cover his face bandit style, and
six arms, each with a “six shooter” pistol. With his multiple limbs he is
another puppet requiring a large effects budget for multiple performer controls
and stop motion, both of which feature heavily in this film. Sounds- a “heh heh
heh” cackle, usually used shortly before or after unloading his weapons against
a foe.
Along
with interior sets, this movie also has the most impressive location. Many scenes
were filmed (non union, involving very quick set ups and exits at night) in
Universal Studio’s famous Court of Miracles, where many classic horror films
were shot.
The
other high point of this film is it contains, by far, the most actors that are
recognizable.
Toulon
is played by Guy Rolfe, who was in a zillion English films including Ivanhoe
with Liz Taylor. (He’s also
directly descended from John Rolfe and Pocahontas.)
His wife Elsa is Sara Douglas (Ursa in Superman II, the Queen in Conan the Destroyer and many more.)
Main bad guy Gestapo Major Kraus, is Richard Lynch
(The villain in Barbarians, The Sword and
the Sorcerer and a boat load of other Eighties films and
television shows.)
The General Kraus reports to is Walter Gotel, (General
Gogol from the James Bond films. He was in both “Wednesday Night Special”
required scenes with topless young women. Make your own conclusions.)
Doctor Hess, the German Scientist trying to make
undead super soldiers is Ian Ambercrombie ("Spinach Chin” from Army of Darkness, plus a bunch of
normal people credits)
And Peter, the small boy Toulon takes under his
wing is Aron Eisenberg (Nog from Deep Space Nine.)
There is a lot world building in this story, but
that doesn’t detract from how well and completely it is told. It sets a lot of
standards for the films going forward. The puppets are again, a side effect to the main villain goal.
Doctor Hess wants the glowing green fluid in syringes for his, up until now, mostly
unsuccessful undead soldier work. (They are uncontrollable and expire quickly.)
They really should have done a direct Re-Animator cross over. Everything lined
up.
Andre and Elsa Toulon have an epically tragic love story, and her murder by Kraus is what
drives the Toulon to use his puppets for the “Revenge” listed in the title. The soldiers
come after Toulon partially because he has his already living puppets make fun
of and attack a (stringed, non-animated) Hitler puppet in his show. However, it
is mostly because they want the Re-Animator fluid for Doctor Hess’s
experiments. Hess is so impressed by Toulon’s work that he ends up eventually
switching sides and joining up with the good guys.
The
moment where Toulon and the puppets mourn Elsa is surprisingly heartbreaking.
Jester’s
first time joining in the violence happens in this outing, but it is of the non
lethal variety. It comes when Toulon sends his little friends to cut… something…
out of Elsa’s brain in the morgue. One film after the studio mandated destruction
of Leech Woman, and we get an impressive origin story for her. The beautiful porcelain doll Toulon originally made for his wife is brought to life with whatever brain
part that was, and the Re-Animator fluid. (Usually the glowing green concoction
used alone is the fuel for the puppets. However, sometimes it is required to have brain in it. There is also the Scroll of Osiris and other spells, which don't get mentioned here, but probably are involved. This franchise is not great with specifics.)
Adding
the leeches inside her very much alters the face of the now living porcelain
doll, as to be expected, I suppose.
As
Toulon sneaks around for his revenge, he has a very “Terry Pratchet” look about
him with a slouch hat and scarf. He also pretends to be blind, the sunglasses
being a possible shout out to Zombie/ Invisible Man Bandage Toulon in part 2.
His disguise must be effective as he stands out in the open most of the time his little friends take people out, and no one notices him.
There
is a very short flashback (using bits of the same footage) to the Faust show in
Egypt from the last film, yet they ignore the Mephistopheles puppet connection
completely. Instead we see Toulon creating Blade as a way to mock Major Kraus.
We learn of the Toulon family friends who opposed the totalitarian regime whose spirits he has infused into his other puppets. When Doctor Hess completes his face turn
with a heroic sacrifice to save others, Toulon infuses his essence (or brain piece
or soul or however this works) into Blade. There’s a lot in here about the power of the
human spirit, and that Toulon used to be a doctor, hence his “anatomy
knowledge.” It really sets up the puppets as a force for good, which carries
through most of the franchise. (Explaining another reason for the ones I am not fond of.)
We
get more examples of how incredibly effective the puppets work as combined arms
attack. Tunneler's drill or Pinhead's bludgeoning leg attacks incapacitating someone into a position for Leech Woman to make a
“deposit” on them was only one of the many impressive combinations.
The
key Nazis all get their comeuppance, with Krauss’s being the most extreme. All
the puppets work together with their creator allowing “Toulon’s Revenge” by
stringing him up in an extremely painful and terrifying manner as a human
puppet before Toulon burns the rope holding him up to finish him off.
Toulon
and the puppet gang escape on a train with Peter to have many further adventures…
which we learn nearly nothing about.
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