The Puppet Monster Massacre (2010)

Director: Dustin Mills

Writer: Dustin Mills

Composer: Jared Kaelber

Starring: Steve Rimpici, Jessica Daniels, Bart Flynn, Ethan Holey, Erica Kisseberth, Dustin Mills, Brandon Salkil

More info: IMDb

Tagline: The felt is gonna fly!

Plot: A group of teens are challenged to spend a night in the Wagner mansion on the edge of town. Little do they know the owner has concocted a monstrosity in the basement.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again?  Yeah.

A couple of years ago I went to Dragoncon for the first time.  AWESOME experience.  I'm hitting every vendor and artist table there and I came across an interesting booth with posters and whatnot for this flick.  I chatted with Dustin Mills for a little bit and for ten bucks I got the DVD and some PMM swag.  If the movie sucks I'm only out ten bucks so what the hell, right?  Besides, it's a gory horror movie with puppets.  These movies don't grow on trees, you know.  I finally got around to watching it and I'll be damned if it's not entertaining.  It was a last minute selection for us at the Scorethefilm house and we really dug it.  It's funny, gory, visually interesting and it's got nudity!!!

It's only 70 minutes long so it's not too difficult to digest but it does drag here and there.  Still, it's got nudity!!!

The voice work is pretty damn good.  I imagine it's pretty damn hard to make it feel like it was filmed on set but I can forgive it for low budget goodness like this.

"Did I ever tell you about the time I punched Adolph Hitler in his ding ding?"

Some of the effects look cheap but others look stunning.

And then there's the badass monster design!!!  The DVD extras include the two previous designs and this one is by far the best.  I'd like to have one of these sumbitches.

This is a fun flick you'll want to slap on with a bunch of friends at a party. It's the debut feature for Mills and I seem to recall he had another film he was selling at his table.  When you go to these cons you have to be careful of how much you spend because there is so much you want to buy.  You tend to spend it on things you're sure of.  Taking a chance on unknown flicks is fine if the price is right and it certainly was for this. Now I wish I had bought his other film.  I might be going to Dragoncon this year and if I do, I'll keep an eye out for this guy and reserve a few bucks for more of his work.