This bit of news is something I didn’t expect to find in my inbox last night. It appears that during the recent Texas Frightmare convention, it was announced that a remake/re-imagining of Charles Band’s PUPPET MASTER series was in the works, with BONE TOMAHAWK writer/director S. Craig Zahler penning the script. Partnering up for the production of PUPPET MASTER: THE LITTLEST REICH, are Di Bonaventura Pictures (1408, TRANSFORMERS) and Caliber Media (DARK WAS THE NIGHT, SOME KIND OF HATE), which makes the announcement even that much more interesting than the possibility of Zahler writing it already was. The Full Moon series, which has spent years giving fans killer dolls and one of the most interestingly odd doses of continuity around, is something I don’t mind seeing reinterpreted by Zahler, with a fresh perspective. I think it’s safe to say that the writer/director did more than prove his chops with BONE TOMAHAWK and the idea that Caliber Media’s Jack Heller (director of the VERY good creature feature DARK WAS THE NIGHT) is acting as one of the producers of the film is yet another reason to be intrigued by the idea. Full Moon head honcho Band will serve as Executive Producer.
“Zahler’s completely new take on PUPPET MASTER maintains all of the brutally inventive puppet kills infused with the comedic tendencies that made the original franchise so popular with fans, while expanding upon Toulon’s backstory and developing richer dialogue, characters, and narratives.
The storyline for THE LITTLEST REICH follows a recently divorced young man who discovers a mint condition Blade doll in his deceased brother’s closet and plans to sell the toy at a convention in Oregon celebrating the 30th anniversary of the infamous Toulon Murders. All hell breaks loose at the Postville Lodge during the auction when a strange force animates all of the various puppets throughout the convention as they go on a bloody killing spree.”
