The Puppet Master series has become one that is a stable in any horror fans collection, especially those fans of Charles Band and Full Moon Horror. This straight to video horror series debuted in 1989 and has since spawned ten sequels. While this is the seventh film of the series, it is actually the first film in chronological order to the overall story. In 2010 they finally started giving this series the Blu-ray treatment and now the seventh film in the franchise Retro Puppet Master (1st in chronological order) is finally hitting Blu-ray.

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Retro Puppet Master follows a 3,000 year old Egyptian sorcerer who has stolen one of the God's secrets of life - that of instilling the souls of the dying into inanimate things. Sutekh raises three mummified former high priests, led by the villainous "First Servant", and charges them with recovering both the Sorceror and his secret. There is no lack of victims for the 3 high-faluting, stylish villains as they pursue their prey to 19th century Paris, and the very young puppeteer, Andre Toulon. Toulon runs a puppet theatre in the heart of Paris, and meets the sorcerer (the mysterious Afzel) when he is found by the lovely Swiss Ambassador's daughter Ilsa, after being nearly killed. It is there and then that we find the seed of things to come, and the origin of the Puppetmaster series of tales. While this one still doesn’t capture the magic of some of the others it does offer up a fun new take on the popular characters.

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Getting to see these familiar puppets in a different earlier concept design was great, but they are once again surrounded by a story that is too convoluted in hopes to explain the history of their origin. I loved just seeing them slash and torment people as opposed to these weird demon like characters that take up the screen time. This story works better than some of the others, but still struggles a bit to really work. If it an important film in the series offering up that origin where you like it or not so is a must have for any fan of the franchise.

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If you’re a true horror fan or just love anything Full Moon puts out, this is a must have version of Retro Puppet Master. It not only sports this great transferred re-mastering using the original 35mm negative, it also features the original full length videozone, commentary, Full Moon trailers and rare behind the scenes footage. Don’t miss out on Retro Puppet Master on Blu-ray for the first time in this all-new edition available now!

For more information or to get a copy, head over to www.fullmoondirect.com