The Puppet Masters starts in 'Ambrose, Iowa - population 10,079' where three boys playing Frisbee witness some sort of strange electrical disturbance in the sky not too far away, they run to investigate. A special Government agent named Sam Nivens (Eric Thal) meets his Father Andrew (Donald Sutherland), a biologist named Dr. Mary Sefton (Julie Warner) & a bodyguard Jarvis (Richard Belzer) at an airport. Andrew informs Sam that there has been a report of a UFO landing in Iwoa & has satellite photo's to back this claim up, they are all on their way to investigate. Once they reach the landing site they find the three boys have made a UFO of their own out of tin & dustbin lids & are telling everyone it was a publicity stunt. Our four Government agents come to the conclusion that they are lying because some of the ground is burnt which for some reason definitely means a UFO landed there & the boys didn't look at Mary's breasts like every 'normal' male would have. They decide to interview TV station reporter Mr. Barnes (Bruce Charchow) since he was one of the first on the scene. Again he doesn't look at Mary's breast so he must be an alien, Barnes takes a gun out of his desk but is shot by Sam before he can use it, while lying injured on the floor an alien parasite of some sort jumps from his back & attacks our agents but is electrocuted. Back at their labs top scientist Dr. Graves (Will Patton) & Mary examine the alien, they come to the conclusion that it has the ability to control the mind of it's host & that anyone could be a carrier. Soon the aliens make an attempt to take President Douglas (Tom Mason) but fail, it quickly becomes apparent that the aliens are hostile & want to wipe out the entire human race. As they reproduce & take control of us at an astounding rate someone very good at maths calculates that within days there will be as many as 250 billion of them. The time to defeat this enemy is now, but how exactly...?
Directed by Stuart Orme I thought The Puppet Masters was average at best but isn't too bad as far as mindless entertainment goes. The script by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio & David S. Goyer based on the novel by Robert A. Heinlein is not the best, if these aliens need to be on people's backs why not just have everyone important walk around topless? It sounds silly I know but it would be totally impossible for any alien to go undetected wouldn't it? Problem solved. Anyway, wouldn't anyone with one of these things on their backs have a big bulge in their clothing? Why does Sam conveniently survive an alien being on his back with no ill effects when Jarvis didn't? Why do these aliens need to go to a central hive? How can an alien telepathically transmit a disease which luckily for us will kill them all within about 30 odd minutes but not us, their hosts? Why do the aliens make themselves so visible? Why do they want to take over Earth anyway? The Puppet Masters reminded me of The X Files (1993 - 2002) with it's shadowy mysterious Government agency, it's male & female leads who don't look dissimilar to Mulder (David Duchovny) & Scully (Gillian Anderson). Many of the ideas brought up in The Puppet Masters are not fully explored or developed & as a whole the film feels very small scale & low budget. This is infinitely inferior to Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) in the similar themes, issues & ideas they both set out to explore & achieve. The aliens themselves look like stingrays with a tentacle that impales itself on the back of it's intended victims necks, the special effects are OK if a little rubbery & a scene when one of these aliens is being spun around on a ceiling fan is actually quite funny & stupid looking. There is no gore & very little action as it's mostly dialogue driven, unfortunately the script tends to make who is infected & who isn't painfully obvious which means it loses a lot of the potential paranoia which worked so well in the Body Snatcher films. Technically The Puppet Masters is well made but extremely bland & forgettable, it has the feel of a cheap TV film written all over it. The acting is so-so & no one embarrasses themselves too much. On a positive note it moves along at a nice pace & is never boring, the idea is very good & quite creepy when you think about it & generally speaking it entertains for an hour & a half if you don't have too high an expectation. Worth a watch if you can catch it on TV for free or find a copy going very cheap somewhere, mine cost about 30 pence at which I can't really complain at!
Directed by Stuart Orme I thought The Puppet Masters was average at best but isn't too bad as far as mindless entertainment goes. The script by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio & David S. Goyer based on the novel by Robert A. Heinlein is not the best, if these aliens need to be on people's backs why not just have everyone important walk around topless? It sounds silly I know but it would be totally impossible for any alien to go undetected wouldn't it? Problem solved. Anyway, wouldn't anyone with one of these things on their backs have a big bulge in their clothing? Why does Sam conveniently survive an alien being on his back with no ill effects when Jarvis didn't? Why do these aliens need to go to a central hive? How can an alien telepathically transmit a disease which luckily for us will kill them all within about 30 odd minutes but not us, their hosts? Why do the aliens make themselves so visible? Why do they want to take over Earth anyway? The Puppet Masters reminded me of The X Files (1993 - 2002) with it's shadowy mysterious Government agency, it's male & female leads who don't look dissimilar to Mulder (David Duchovny) & Scully (Gillian Anderson). Many of the ideas brought up in The Puppet Masters are not fully explored or developed & as a whole the film feels very small scale & low budget. This is infinitely inferior to Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) in the similar themes, issues & ideas they both set out to explore & achieve. The aliens themselves look like stingrays with a tentacle that impales itself on the back of it's intended victims necks, the special effects are OK if a little rubbery & a scene when one of these aliens is being spun around on a ceiling fan is actually quite funny & stupid looking. There is no gore & very little action as it's mostly dialogue driven, unfortunately the script tends to make who is infected & who isn't painfully obvious which means it loses a lot of the potential paranoia which worked so well in the Body Snatcher films. Technically The Puppet Masters is well made but extremely bland & forgettable, it has the feel of a cheap TV film written all over it. The acting is so-so & no one embarrasses themselves too much. On a positive note it moves along at a nice pace & is never boring, the idea is very good & quite creepy when you think about it & generally speaking it entertains for an hour & a half if you don't have too high an expectation. Worth a watch if you can catch it on TV for free or find a copy going very cheap somewhere, mine cost about 30 pence at which I can't really complain at!