Director David Decoteau's ("Puppet Master III", "Curse of the Puppet Master" and "Retro Puppet Master") 2010 direct-to-DVD prequel "Puppet Master: Axis of Evil" is quite a surprise. It's not a good movie by any means, don't get me wrong. It's really bad at times, but it's also highly enjoyable as a cheap horror film and has some good fun moments, and it is a definite step up after the abysmal, cheap clip-show of a film the prior entry ("Legacy") was.

The films starts off with an extremely well-done retcon of the original "Puppet Master" film's prologue, almost seamlessly mixing old archival footage and new footage- Danny Coogan (Levi Fletcher), a young man whom wants to fight in World War II but can't due to a bad limp, stumbles into the room of the puppet master Andre Toulon (William Hickey in archival footage) just moments after he killed himself. Danny had been shown Toulon's puppets before, and is able to recover them from their hiding place in the wall, vowing to take care of them and keep them safe from the Nazis Max and Klaus who had been sent to retrieve them for Hitler. (Max and Klaus are played by Tom Sandoval and Aaron Riber) Danny returns home to Los Angeles China-Town district where his mother and older brother (about to depart for the war) live, and where his girlfriend Beth (Jenna Gallaher) works. However, Max and Klaus track down Danny's address and begrudgingly unite with a Japanese spy and her associates to retrieve the puppets for the Axis, and to blow up the factory where Beth works, which may or may not be home to a new secret Allied weapon.

I will give credit where credit is due- there are a lot of good, fun moments in this direct-to-DVD film. Some of the ret-con work in the beginning is highly impressive (it matches perfectly except for slight differences in the lighting), the characters though underdeveloped and poorly acted are likable, and there's even some good unintentional social commentary. (Including a good jab at American ignorance in that our Japanese villainess is able to hide out in plain sight in China-Town because Americans are too ignorant to be able to tell Chinese and Japanese apart.) It's also just good to see the puppets in action again as a fan of earlier installments in the series.

However, when this film falls apart and times, it really falls apart. For one, it's 81 minutes long, but nearly ten minutes of that footage includes the opening and closing credits, and a large portion of archival footage from the original film, so the film is really only about 71 minutes of new footage. And it just isn't enough time to develop the sort-of story the director and writer are going for. You can tell that a lot of scenes must have been cut for budget and time reasons (too much is implied through dialog when it should have been shown on screen, and the film takes place in the same few locations from scene to scene), and it hurts the film. What makes this even stranger is that it's not a fast film, per say, it's actually a slower-moving film editing-wise, which makes it seem even shorter than it already is. It really could have benefited from another 10 minutes of footage.

Two, this is not really a well-made movie. It feels far too low-budget. The puppet effects are all very bland and basic and look arguably worse than they did in earlier films. The production design is very cheap. The acting isn't the greatest (the actors are charming, but just can't act). It just reeks of "low budget direct-to-DVD."

Those complains being said, this is still a watchable film. It's one of the weaker entries in the series (to be honest, the series has gotten a lot worse since the third film), but is still mildly entertaining. I'd give it a just under-average 4 out of 10. If you're a fan of the earlier films, pick up the box set of all nine official entries and give this one a watch. It's worth seeing for the fans.

The tenth (!) entry in Charles Band's long running series is really rough and cheap stuff, but actually better than the last few sequels (which says a lot). The film opens by incorporating the original's 1939 prologue where the puppet master Andre Toulon (William Hickey) kills himself at the Bodega Bay Inn. New footage has limping Danny Coogan (Levi Fiehler) stumbling onto the scene just as the two Nazis who ransacked Toulon's room are leaving. Danny was apparently friends with Toulon and knows where the hidden puppets are and takes them. He returns home to Chinatown in LA and is upset that he can't join the war effort to take on the "Japs and Krauts" (heh, heh...more on that in a bit). But he soon finds he can do his part stateside when he discovers one of the Nazis working undercover at a local munitions factory.

This series has been running for 20 years and I think it pretty much sum up producer Band's career during that time period. The first three are decent little movies with the proper exploitation elements. Then Band opted to do them on the cheap and each successive film got more and more cut-rate until you finally had the obligatory clip show with 15 new minutes of footage entry (PUPPET MASTER: LEGACY). This one tries to bring it back to the level of the first three by continuing the storyline set up in part III's Germany set sequel. Unfortunately, Band is still cutting corners and has found some new money mark in China where the film was shot for pennies, er, yuan. You get some of the worst sets you'll ever seen (where the camera actually exposes the tops on several occasions) and you can see the same extras over and over in the exterior shots. Director David DeCoteau did three previous entries and really seems to be trying but the film is just sort of there. He fails to bring the exploitation factor as there is no stop motion (actually there hasn't been since part V, I believe), no nudity and very little gore. He did find some good leads with the exception of the girl who plays the Japanese spy, who turns in one of the worst performances I've seen in a while.

And now for the biggie! I'll admit I admire them taking it back to 1939 and using that as a launching point but - MY GOD - do you really have a lead character spend the whole film talking about how he wishes he could enlist into the service to go overseas and fight the "Japs and Krauts" IN 1939!?! There are constant references to America kids fighting overseas. HISTORY LESSON FAIL! Even worse, later a character makes a reference to Pearl Harbor! I'm amazed that no one who read the script said, "Uh, we might have a continuity problem here." The funny thing is there is a "making of" video on the disc and DeCoteau says the film is set in 1941 (even though characters reference Danny's work at the hotel and discovery of Toulon's body being "a few weeks ago").

David DeCoteau is a talented microbudget horror director and he's directed some of the better, more artful Puppet Master films. Parts 3, 6 and 7 are some of the most competently directed, serious and beautifully shot Full Moon films. "Axis of Evil" fits in with them, but its the weakest of his efforts through no fault of his own.

The problem with Pt 9 (since Charles Band disgustingly counts a "Best of" tape as Pt 8) is that its a much, much cheaper rehash of 7 which was a rehash of 3. The plot follows a young man fighting the Nazis in a dark urban setting, losing his loved ones and then getting revenge. Pt 3 is a good film but remaking it twice is twice too many. Worst of all is that the puppets have less to do with the story and they look shabbier in each film. Lets face it: the puppets are the stars.

Its gorgeously shot, directed as well as a fast and cheap horror film can be and you have to admire the craftsmanship of a movie filmed for peanuts, but its not entertaining or original enough. This is the 1st of a trilogy and so you don't receive any closure but you do feel a rage at the cynical money-grubbing quality of Full Moon's lesser films. What a waste of DeCoteau and a modest Puppet Master premise.