THE 31 MOVIES OF HORROR-WEEN: PUPPET MASTER X: AXIS RISING (2012) **

Puppet Master X:  Axis Rising features a whole new cast replacing the actors from Puppet Master:  Axis of Evil who take up a lot of the early scenes reiterating the plot of that movie.  It seems that the puppet Tunneller has fallen into the hands of the Nazis.  Danny (now played by Kip Canyon) sets out to get him back.  Meanwhile a Nazi doctor (Oto Brezina) is working on his own batch of puppets at the behest of a sexy Nazi babe named Uschi (Stephanie Sanditz).

This tenth installment in the Puppet Master franchise (if you don’t count Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys that is, and frankly, who would want to?) is only the second directed by series creator Charles Band.  It’s a definite improvement on Axis of Evil, and while I can’t quite call it one of the best films in the series, it’s easily the best entry in the “Axis Trilogy”.  While Axis of Evil was somewhat earnest in its intentions, making pointed observations about race relations during WWII, and boasting some fine period detail, the results were middling to say the least.  Puppet Master X is seriously lacking any of that.  However, there is something to be said for a movie that knows it’s junk and gleefully dives right into out-and-out silliness.  

The addition of Sanditz as the sexy Ilsa-inspired Nazi hottie certainly helps.  She spends almost all her screen time nearly busting out of her Nazi uniform or writhing around in skimpy lingerie.  The movie takes a nose dive in quality after she is killed off, but at least she is brought back late in the game in the form of an evil puppet named “Bombshell” who comes equipped with machine gun titties.

There’s also a werewolf puppet, a German robot tank named “Blitzkrieg”, and a Japanese puppet called “Kamikaze”.  The stuff with these Nazi puppets is fun, mostly because they’re something new and offer the classic puppets like Blade and Leech Woman an opportunity to do something besides kill people.  The puppet battles, it must be said, are a long time coming though.  Still, there’s enough random cheesiness here to keep you watching.