Story: After he was saved by Andre Toulon as a child, Peter Hertz became an apprentice to the master puppeteer and after his death, continued to watch over his creations. He was able to keep Toulon’s secrets safe, at least until a wily thief snuck past his safeguards. Her name is Maclain (Kate Orsini) and she has one goal in mind, to unlock the secrets behind the puppets and their power, no matter how far she has to go to uncover the truth. While demanding to know everything that Hertz knows, she is told the entire story behind Toulon and his puppets, but will she learn what she seeks or will Hertz pay the price for his allegiance to his old master?

Entertainment Value: Given that Full Moon loves to reuse old footage and even splice clips from multiple films to craft a new vision, it is no surprise that Charles Band would release this “greatest hits” from the Puppet Master series. This is essentially the kind of clip show that long running television shows release from time to time, revisiting key moments from the past, with some kind of wraparound story that has some new content involved. So while Puppet Master: The Legacy might technically count as a sequel or a new film, you shouldn’t expect fresh material here, outside of the very brief bumper scenes that connect the deluge of clips. I will say that the clips chosen were well selected, representing some of the wildest, funniest, and bloodiest moments from the series.

The new scenes are infrequent and quite brief when they are present, with a paper thin tale of a thief interrogating Toulon’s apprentice. Given how little new footage is here, I would think Charles Band would have wanted to jazz things up a bit, rather than a slow, dull new mini narrative. Perhaps with so little time to fill between the clips, Full Moon could have gone all out and created a new “greatest hit” or two for this volume, but no such luck. The actors ham it up and try to make the material work, but this was just tacked on footage and it shows, as little seems to have gone into making it compelling or memorable in the least. So as a new Puppet Master sequel, The Legacy leaves a lot to be desired, but as a highlight reel of the franchise, it can be a fun watch.

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