Puppet Master II

Puppet Master II, also known as (Puppet Master II: His Unholy Creations or Puppet Master II: They're Back, No Strings Attached), is a 1991 horror film written by David Pabian and directed by Dave Allen. It is the second film in the Puppet Master franchise, the sequel to 1989's Puppet Master, and is centered on paranormal investigators who are terrorized by the animate creations of an undead puppeteer.

Puppet Master II, as well as the third, fourth and fifth installments of the series, are only available in DVD format through a Full Moon Features box set that was briefly discontinued, until in 2007 when Full Moon Features reacquired the rights to the first five films.

Plot
That stormy night at Shady Oaks, a cemetery in the backyard of the Bodega Bay Inn. As we go around the graveyard, we see Pinhead digging André Toulon's grave. Pinhead opens up the coffin, climbs out, and pours a yellow liquid on the skeleton, with Tunneler, Leech Woman, Blade and Jester watching. After pouring the formula, the skeleton raises its arms, indicating that André Toulon is alive again. A few months later, a group of parapsychologists, led by Carolyn Bramwell, are sent to the hotel to investigate the strange murder of Megan Gallagher and the lunatic ravings of a now insane Alex Whitaker.

It is explained that Megan's brain was extracted through her nose (by Blade), and Alex, suspected of the murder, is now locked up in an asylum. While at the asylum, he begins to experience terrible seizures and premonitions. That very evening, one of the investigators, Camille Kenney, decides to leave after spotting two of the puppets in her room.

However, while packing, Pinhead and Jester attack and kidnap her. The next day, Carolyn talks to Michael about the disappearance of his mother, due to finding Camille's belongings and car still at the hotel. That very evening Carolyn's brother Patrick gets his head tunneled by Tunneler. Another investigator, Lance runs in, knocks Tunneler out, and kills him by crushing him with a lamp. After dissecting Tunneler, they realize that the puppets are not remote controlled, but rather that their gears and wood are run by a chemical.

From this, they deduce that the chemical must be the secret of artificial intelligence. The next morning, while still trying understand the puppet's motivation, a man named Eriquee Chaneé comes in, stating that he had inherited hotel, and that he was in Bucharest while the investigators moved in. Afterwards, Camille's son Michael travels to the hotel, trying to figure out what happened to his mother. That very evening, Blade and Leech Woman go to a local farmer's house, where Leech Woman kills the husband, Matthew, but gets thrown into the fireplace by the wife, Martha.

Just before Martha shoots Blade with her shotgun, a new puppet, Torch, walks in and burns Martha with his flame-throwing arm. It is then revealed that Eriquee is really André Toulon and he created Torch after being brought back to life, and he believes that Carolyn is a reincarnation of his now deceased wife, Elsa. Toulon then has a flashback of him and Elsa buying the formula of eternal life from a Cairo Merchant.

The next morning, Michael and Carolyn go into town to find Camille and to find out more about Eriquee Chaneé. During this, it is revealed that the puppets are killing because they are growing weaker and need the secret ingredient that makes that formula: brain tissue. Carolyn finds no records of Eriquee Chaneé, and starts to connect Eriquee to the disappearance of Camille and the death of her brother, Patrick. At the same time, she also realizes she has a crush on Michael.

That same evening, Carolyn and Michael kiss, and have a little romantic interlude, as do Lance and Wanda, the remaining two investigators. While Wanda goes back to her room, Blade kills Lance, killing Wanda afterwards. After killing them, he uses their tissue for the formula. During this, Carolyn sneaks into Eriquee's room, and finds two life sized mannequins in the wardrobe. Eriquee sneaks up behind Carolyn, and still thinking she is Elsa, ties her up. Michael, hearing her screams, wakes up and goes to rescue her, all while fighting off Torch, Pinhead, and Blade. On his way up, the dumbwaiter opens, revealing Jester and Michael's dead mother, Camille.

Toulon transfers his soul into one of the mannequins, and explains that after seeing Carolyn, he decided for them to live together forever. The puppets, upon hearing this, realize Toulon used them for his evil needs, and start torturing him. Michael then breaks into the room, saves Carolyn, and the two run out of the hotel. Up in the attic, Torch sets Toulon on fire, causing him to fall out a window and die. Afterward, Jester goes back to Camille's body with the remaining of the formula.

Several days later, it is revealed that Camille's soul has been put in the woman-sized mannequin, and is now running her own little puppet show. Blade, Pinhead, and Jester, are locked up in a cage, leaving Torch free. Camille takes them to the Bouldeston Institution for the mentally troubled tots and teens. Camille puts the puppets in the back of her car, and Torch up on the passenger's seat, and drives off, leaving this movie as a cliff-hanger.

Trivia

 * Toulon's tombstone said he died in 1941, he originally died in 1939
 * Tunneler returns from the dead, but sadly Leech Woman didn't
 * This is the only movie that has a child murdered by a puppet.
 * This movie appears to be disconnected to the other Puppet Master movies.
 * The disguise worn by the undead André Toulon is similar to the one worn by Jack Griffin in The Invisible Man. In addition, the same outfit was later adorned the title character of Full Moon Entertainment’s 1994 film Invisible: The Chronicles of Benjamin Knight.
 * The poster of Puppet Master II erroneously depicts Torch’s flamethrower as attached to his left arm rather than his right.
 * Tunneler returned, but sadly Leech Woman didn’t.
 * Originally this movie was entitled: Puppet Master II--His Unholy Creations however Full Moon Pictures decided to drop His Unholy Creations and went souly with Puppet Master II.
 * The puppet Torch makes his first appearance in this movie. He can throw fire from a flamethrower that Andre Toulon mounts on his arm.
 * Toulon's appearance with the bandages and glasses is a homage to The Invisible Man.
 * This film as well as sequels three through five were only available on DVD through a Full Moon Features box set that is now discontinued but still available at their website as well as from them at Amazon.com. It included all the first seven chapters of the franchise and a bonus disc with 45 movie trailers. Other than the first three films which have been released separately as a Spanish region free DVD, the films have not been released individually themselves yet.
 * If you pay attention to the second film, André Toulon has a green blood and is a life sized puppet. But in the first film, Neil Gallagher has a green blood too, but isn't a puppet. The green blood is the formula.
 * In this movie, Toulon says that the secret of life was a secret from Osiris, the Egyptian god of life, death, and fertility. However, in the rest of the films, the god that made the secret of life was Sutekh, the ancient god of deserts, storms, and chaos. Since Osiris is the god of life, and Sutekh is the god of chaos, then it this would be a complete mistake in the entire series. Although, Sutekh is considered a demon, and he was the killer of Osiris, so there's a possibility that Sutekh stole the secret of life from Osiris after he was killed.
 * The film was nominated in 1991 for the International Fantasy Film Award for Best Film: Ted Nicolau.

Cast

 * Elizabeth Maclellan – Carolyn Bramwell, Elsa Toulon
 * Collin Bernsen – Michael Kenney
 * Steve Welles – André Toulon/Eriquee Chaneé
 * Gregory Webb – Patrick Bramwell
 * Charlie Spradling – Wanda
 * Jeff Weston – Lance
 * Nita Talbot – Camille Kenney
 * Sage Allen – Martha
 * George Buck Flower – Mathew
 * Sean B. Ryan – Billy
 * Ivan J. Rado – Cairo Merchant
 * Michael Todd – André Toulon Puppet
 * Julianne Mazziotti – Puppet Camille/Elsa

Puppets

 * Blade
 * Pinhead
 * Jester
 * Tunneler
 * Leech Woman
 * Torch
 * Mephisto
 * Djinn

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Puppet Master

Next Film
Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge