However, being that Heinlein was one of the few sci-fi authors I +didn't+ read (I'm more of an Asimov and Bradbury fan myself) as a kid growing up, and I haven't seen the original film, I didn't have any problems with this movie when it came out in theaters. In fact, I found the premise genuinely creepy, the effects highly believable, and the presence of Donald Sutherland to be a masterful touch. It may not go down in the all-time pantheon of "greatest sci-horror films" ever, but if it was playing on HBO I wouldn't change the channel. Sometimes I think people get too caught up in whether a story is true to the original, and forget that it's JUST a movie and they should try to enjoy it on that basis.
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OHHLA9 September 2001
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wes-connors29 April 2015It looks like a UFO has landed in a small Iowa farm town. A top-secret US government investigative team from the "Office of Scientific Central Intelligence" goes out to investigate. The three stars are: limping leader Donald Sutherland (as Andrew Nivens), his handsome son and partner Eric Thal (as Sam Nivens) and sexy alien biologist Julie Warner (as Mary Sefton). They are about to conclude the whole thing was a teenagers' hoax, but Ms. Warner realizes aliens have landed. The reason, according to Warner, is that no males on the scene have noticed her arousing figure or tried to look down her unbuttoned blouse. You can almost hear her say, "Don't look at that alien spaceship, dammit, look down my shirt!"...
Now, these aliens attach themselves to your back (your spinal column, specifically) and they multiply quickly. The way to see if someone has been "infected" is to order the person to, "Take off your shirt!" Since this trick works, we're left wondering why most people in the cast are allowed to keep their backs covered. Most viewers would not protest Warner and Mr. Thal acting without their shirts (Thal goes without pants, too). If you don't mind wondering about plot confusions and contrivances like that, you could do worse than Stuart Orme's vision of Robert A. Heinlein's science-fiction novel. Thal and Warner are an attractive couple and Mr. Sutherland is a classic performer who can improve movies by simply being there.
****** The Puppet Masters (10/21/94) Stuart Orme ~ Eric Thal, Julie Warner, Donald Sutherland, Keith David -
Not having read any of the highly acclaimed writer Robert A. Heinlein's work, including the original novel "Puppet Masters", I can't really comment on whether or not this piece does him or his work any justice, but from a point of view that hasn't in any way been influenced by his work or others' opinions(...maybe scratch that last one), I must admit that it's not half bad. The plot is pretty good, and it keeps developing at an adequate rate, while keeping a fair pace, but it seems to drop a tad once this entered its last half or so. The acting is decent enough, with Donald Sutherland being the one to stand out and deliver a marvelous performance. The characters are well-written, well-casted, credible and believable. This is strangely similar to TV features, in the way it's shot and edited. The special effects are great, but short of spectacular. The creature design was reasonably interesting, and well thought out, and the related effects are actually relatively nicely done. The science fiction aspects of this, with the aliens and their actions are well-done. I liked the way the film utilizes mood and atmosphere rather than excessive gore to scare and thrill the audience. The atmosphere and mood are decent enough, just not as well-done as they could have been. The movie also fails to inspire the same paranoia and fear that, for example, John Carpenter's The Thing does. Finally, the climax was a bit overly Hollywood-like, but hey, this does provide about 110 minutes worth of sufficiently entertaining science fiction-horror about the always dreaded extra-terrestrial invasion. I recommend it to fans of the genre and/or Donald Sutherland(it should also be noted that Keith David rocks, as he has something of a tendency to do). 6/10
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elihu-213 May 2000One science-fiction film that turns out to be less disappointing than expected is this loose adaptation of Robert A. Heinlein's novel.
Donald (give me another part in an alien pod movie) Sutherland interprets the role of Adam "The Old Man" Nivens, head of a secret government protection agency that has its hands full trying to stop an alien invasion by slug-like mental parasites which tap into people's brains, controlling them toward their own ends.
Eric Thal (of A STRANGER AMONG US) draws a blank where a strong character should be in the role of Sam, son of the Old Man, and fellow agent. Julie Warner (from DOC HOLLYWOOD) fares a little better as Mary, a NASA xenobiologist along for the roller coaster ride.
The opening scenes do justice to the setting and atmosphere of the book, and the skeleton of the original plot is unpredictable and thrilling, but eventually, the compromises in adaptation give rise to Hollywood-style sci-fi conventions such as alien hives.
Several realistic, key elements are thrown out, along with almost all of the sharp dialogue which made the book a hit.
However, the special effects are convincing, and the cinematography and editing are streamlined and tight. Far from being definitive, this version of the tale is nonetheless sufficiently satisfying and worth a look. -
smatysia13 April 2000This was a decent sci-fi flick. Good performances by Julie Warner and Eric Thal, and of course there's no role that Donald Sutherland can't pull off. Alien effects were revoltingly good. OK, it's not completely true to Heinlein's magnificent novel. Hollywood has a formula, (the happy ending, the obligatory love interest of one or more of the stars, etc.) and any deviation from it is exceedingly rare. That's why foreign films are good, because they are not bound by the formula. I've noticed that great sci-fi movies are almost always originally written for the screen, rather than adapted from books. Books are always better than movies, but science fiction seems to be particularly so.
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CuriosityKilledShawn29 October 2012Unfortunate enough to share a name with a brand of dirt-cheap Charles Band movies (but completely disconnected from them) I always figured that The Puppet Masters would be just as schlocky. It ain't art, but it is decent, low-brow, brainless entertainment.
A bunch of alien manta-rays land in Iowa in a confusing opening sequence. The authorities arrive and discover that the locals are slowly being turned into mindless slaves to their alien hosts. Sound like the X-Files? It very much does play out like a 3-part episode with virtually the exact same character dynamic and interaction. The tagline for the movie is even 'Trust no one'.
It also feels like a John Carpenter movie in some respects (the presence of Keith David, who really ought to be in every movie, only adds to this). And while it's a fairly non-epic movie it does feature some nice anamorphic Panavision photography and a bunch of character actors to keep you entertained in-between the silly plot developments.
As well as feeling the X-Files it also comes across as an Invasion of the Body Snatchers rip-off, odd since co-star Donald Sutherland was in one of those movies. Four years later another very similar film called The Faculty also featured mind-controlling alien parasites, as well as the Brain Slugs from Futurama. But apparently it's taken from a novel of the same name by Robert A. Heinlein but with little in common, perhaps thanks to a zillion re-writes.
These kinds of movies often have some kind of political subtext, but Puppet Masters embraces its low-brow but clever silliness and ends up a guilty pleasure. -
SnoopyStyle23 July 2016Aliens have landed in the small town of Ambrose, Iowa. The locals have made an attraction of an alien landing. Government agents Andrew Nivens (Donald Sutherland) and son Sam (Eric Thal) arrive with Mary Sefton (Julie Warner) and Neil Jarvis (Richard Belzer) to investigate. They discover stingray-like creatures using humans as puppets. They escape back to base where agents Alex Holland (Keith David) and Dr. Graves (Will Patton) examine the parasite.
The problem for this movie is that the solution seems so obvious. Everybody should walk around without their shirts. The soldier can have extra armor on their backs. The President should be warning the general public. The movie starts out great with Julie Warner and her boobs theory. However, the tension peters out after they escape from the town. The movie wants to have a big third act but it's never big enough. -
Probably produced following the smash success of The X Files, The Puppet Masters is a pretty solid slice of alien invasion pulp fiction. The casting is good, with Eric Thal and Julie Warner proving to be charming enough stand-ins for Mulder and Scully. Elsewhere, sci-fi genre fans may appreciate the appearances of Yaphet Kotto (Alien), Keith David (The Thing) and of course the great Donald Sutherland (Invasion Of The Body Snatchers).
Behind the camera, it's an unusually British affair with director Stuart Orme, cinematographer Clive Tickner, and composer Colin Towns all heralding from the UK. They do nice work - Orme provides a tense and pacey first half, Tickner's very fine work lends a stylish visual sheen, and Towns' music is lushly complex.
However, although it starts out well, the flick loses some energy and traction around the middle and doesn't get it back. Its potential begins to slip away and I'm not quite sure why. Maybe budget/script cuts. The last third in particular, with its under-powered action set-pieces and somewhat perfunctory ending, suggests that the film had hit the glass ceiling of its production resources... or perhaps even its creators' full interest.
Nevertheless, it's an enjoyable sci-fi thriller for a good part of its running time. Might make a nice viewing companion with The Hidden (1987) or certainly any number of old X Files episodes! -
drewnes30 May 2021I remember watching this as a kid and thinking it was so scary. Now on rewatch I realize it is a campy sci-fi movie but with some good practical effects and John Carpenter vibes.
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Boba_Fett11382 September 2005It's pretty obvious that director is mostly active in the TV-series and TV movie genre. "The Puppet Maser" has at times an awfully TV-movie looking visual style and the characters and story are mostly wasted. Still the movie is entertaining enough to find it watchable and perhaps even also recommendable.
Still it's a shame, because the movie had all the potential to become a science-fiction classic in the style of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". The story is very good and also original. The execution of it is just plain bad at times. All of the characters are wasted and the movie is filled with some plot holes and illogical moments. Seriously, I'm convinced of it that with a different director at the helm, this movie really could and would had grown in to be a classic science-fiction masterpiece.
However as entertainment this movie is good enough. Science-fiction fans will certainly enjoy this movie which is mainly due to the original alien invasion story and the above average special effects.
Don't expect great things from the cast though. The dialog and acting is at times B-movie like. Eric Thal is a failed movie-hero and Donald Sutherland is wasted. Also Will Patton and especially Yaphet Kotto are criminally underused.
The movie is certainly watchable but to most this movie will probably seem like a silly science-fiction movie. The movie is perhaps best and possibly only watchable and recommendable to the fans of the science-fiction genre.
7/10
http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/ -
It really makes no sense how this film could not have worked. Working off a script based on a Robert A. Heinlein novel, with the venerable Donald Sutherland in one of the lead roles, and with alien invasion the subject matter, this should have been at least a seven star Science Fiction film. As Sci-Fi goes, the superior ones focus more on futuristic and/or scientific concepts, with action and/or special effects adding to the spectacle. That is why films like the Star Wars saga really aren't Sci-Fi, but action/adventure first (and in the case of Star Wars, fantasy) and science fiction second at best. This film does delve into the biology and culture of the aliens, but just barely. Mostly it focuses on hokey special effects and a few watered-down action scenes to fill up screen time. The aliens themselves are quite realistic and original, a plus for the film. The chemistry between Donald Sutherland as the leader of a secret government agency and his son, played by Eric Thal (an unknown at the time) is actually quite good. In addition, Julie Warner actually does well as the scientist working for Sutherland and of course plays the romantic interest for Sutherland's son. While not a superior actress, she performs adequately, although her talents are more suited to television, as it appears this movie was. While most will think, as I did, while reading the plot synopsis of the film that it is a rip-off of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (Sutherland starred in the remake of this film in 1978), the actual book was published in 1951, prior to the original film as well as the novel written by Jack Finney. Bottom line: not a bad movie to watch when you know you will be distracted as it requires very little of your attention and there are enough action scenes to move the pace along, but science fiction and Heinlein fans will be disappointed.
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pleides3 October 2001I strongly disagree with many of the other reviews of this film. It is a very faithful adaptation (given Hollywood's history of adapting for the screen), and one of my favorite movies. It is not entirely faithful, i.e. Operation Bareback (which I would have enjoyed) was forgone, probably due to the mass nudity that it would entail. The love interest, the storyline and the characters were very close to the novel. Some criticize it as a ripoff of the Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but the novel actually pre-dates that work, so who copied from whom? The scope of the movie was scaled back and little mention was made of landings and conflicts in other countries, but this may be due to editing exigencies. The aliens are suitably creepy as my wife will agree, as she still refuses to watch it again, and it manages without the gore of many similar movies, although it is rather violent.
Compared to another recent Heinlein adaptation, Starship Troopers, this film was much truer to the author's original work and is a thrilling and thoughtful treat. Sadly, it looks like no sequel will be forthcoming to carry the battle to the moons of Saturn. -
Coventry2 January 2024Comparisons are inevitable. Sixteen years after the exquisite "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", Donald Sutherland is involved up to his neck again with intellectually superior but nefarious aliens that invade planet earth and take over its inhabitants. And you can take the "up to his neck" comment quite literally, as the evil aliens are stingray-shaped parasites that exist for 60% out of brain-tissue and attach themselves to their human hosts via a probe in the back of their necks. The extraterrestrial stingrays make an inconspicuous entry, as they land in rural Iowa and colonialize a quite community first, but - as usual - their ultimate mission is world domination!
"The Puppet Masters", based on a novel by Robert A. Heinlein and adapted into a screenplay by more than four (!) writers, has a very solid and compelling first half hour, but turns into a disappointingly tame and routine Sci-Fi thriller after that. Once the first ET specimen has been dissected, it's one cliché after another, including the guessing game of who may or may not be contaminated, the sending in of military cannon fodder, the search for the aliens' sole weakness, the secret agents' romance, and the final battle with the ultimate alien-mastermind. There are many overlong and tedious parts during the second half, which is really a no-go for a film like this. Sutherland obviously realizes the film is not as good as "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" but remains as professional as ever, and same goes for several great actors in supportive roles that are too small for their talent (Yaphet Kotto, Will Patton, Andrew Robinson, ...) -
lhunt-921 October 2014My problem with this movie is (1) Robert Heinlein is my favourite science fiction writer, bar none; (2) The book on which this movie is based is one of his more forgettable works; and (3) The film is a decent effort, but it's a low-budget project and pretty uninspired. I've waited a lifetime for Heinlein's better writing to make it to the screen, and unfortunately, it hasn't happened. There is nothing "wrong" with this movie, but almost any other Heinlein novel or story would have been better starting material. Better choices for source material might have included Stranger in a Strange Land (best known work, but not best novel), and any of the so-called Boy Scout series from the 50s: Have Spacesuit Will Travel, Farmer in the Sky, Between Planets, Red Planet, and many, many more.
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EdSi200122 June 2003How the producers got away with calling this "Robert A. Heinlein's Puppet Masters" amazes me - because the only resemblance to Heinlein's genuinely chilling short story about Titan 'slugs' are the character names. That's it. None of the wonderfully satirical espionage group shenanigans, none of the gripping suspense, none of the character development, and none of the setting. "Puppet Masters" is not supposed to be set in 1994, it's supposed to be set in 1957 - but a different 1957 to the one we know. I mean, this film didn't even attempt the flying cars or the hand-held lasers. Like so many new sci-fi films made from older literature classics, the fiction has been cut out like some sort of hideous tumor and the science has been exaggerated to make sure the audience knows it's SCIENCE fiction. The fact that the science is largely irrelevant is lost on most modern screen writers - and this movie is no exception.
Another example of a perfectly good story that has been shredded to make it 'fit' Hollywood's version of science-fiction, which is largely made up of clanking robots, flashing lights and explosions.
"The Faculty" was a good SF movie. And it was right - Body Snatchers is a rip-off from this story, but it never pretended to be anything but. Faculty had some enjoyable sequences. It wasn't perfect, and elements were laughable, but despite this, it was true to itself..._this_ film was just the massacre of a perfectly good story.
I only hope anyone else who ever tries to make a movie of a Heinlein classic will stick to the book and make a decent movie, not rehash the story until it sounds good - because they sounded good before. -
poolandrews16 July 2005The Puppet Masters starts in 'Ambrose, Iowa - population 10,079' where three boys playing Frisbee witness some sort of strange electrical disturbance in the sky not too far away, they run to investigate. A special Government agent named Sam Nivens (Eric Thal) meets his Father Andrew (Donald Sutherland), a biologist named Dr. Mary Sefton (Julie Warner) & a bodyguard Jarvis (Richard Belzer) at an airport. Andrew informs Sam that there has been a report of a UFO landing in Iwoa & has satellite photo's to back this claim up, they are all on their way to investigate. Once they reach the landing site they find the three boys have made a UFO of their own out of tin & dustbin lids & are telling everyone it was a publicity stunt. Our four Government agents come to the conclusion that they are lying because some of the ground is burnt which for some reason definitely means a UFO landed there & the boys didn't look at Mary's breasts like every 'normal' male would have. They decide to interview TV station reporter Mr. Barnes (Bruce Charchow) since he was one of the first on the scene. Again he doesn't look at Mary's breast so he must be an alien, Barnes takes a gun out of his desk but is shot by Sam before he can use it, while lying injured on the floor an alien parasite of some sort jumps from his back & attacks our agents but is electrocuted. Back at their labs top scientist Dr. Graves (Will Patton) & Mary examine the alien, they come to the conclusion that it has the ability to control the mind of it's host & that anyone could be a carrier. Soon the aliens make an attempt to take President Douglas (Tom Mason) but fail, it quickly becomes apparent that the aliens are hostile & want to wipe out the entire human race. As they reproduce & take control of us at an astounding rate someone very good at maths calculates that within days there will be as many as 250 billion of them. The time to defeat this enemy is now, but how exactly...?
Directed by Stuart Orme I thought The Puppet Masters was average at best but isn't too bad as far as mindless entertainment goes. The script by Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio & David S. Goyer based on the novel by Robert A. Heinlein is not the best, if these aliens need to be on people's backs why not just have everyone important walk around topless? It sounds silly I know but it would be totally impossible for any alien to go undetected wouldn't it? Problem solved. Anyway, wouldn't anyone with one of these things on their backs have a big bulge in their clothing? Why does Sam conveniently survive an alien being on his back with no ill effects when Jarvis didn't? Why do these aliens need to go to a central hive? How can an alien telepathically transmit a disease which luckily for us will kill them all within about 30 odd minutes but not us, their hosts? Why do the aliens make themselves so visible? Why do they want to take over Earth anyway? The Puppet Masters reminded me of The X Files (1993 - 2002) with it's shadowy mysterious Government agency, it's male & female leads who don't look dissimilar to Mulder (David Duchovny) & Scully (Gillian Anderson). Many of the ideas brought up in The Puppet Masters are not fully explored or developed & as a whole the film feels very small scale & low budget. This is infinitely inferior to Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) in the similar themes, issues & ideas they both set out to explore & achieve. The aliens themselves look like stingrays with a tentacle that impales itself on the back of it's intended victims necks, the special effects are OK if a little rubbery & a scene when one of these aliens is being spun around on a ceiling fan is actually quite funny & stupid looking. There is no gore & very little action as it's mostly dialogue driven, unfortunately the script tends to make who is infected & who isn't painfully obvious which means it loses a lot of the potential paranoia which worked so well in the Body Snatcher films. Technically The Puppet Masters is well made but extremely bland & forgettable, it has the feel of a cheap TV film written all over it. The acting is so-so & no one embarrasses themselves too much. On a positive note it moves along at a nice pace & is never boring, the idea is very good & quite creepy when you think about it & generally speaking it entertains for an hour & a half if you don't have too high an expectation. Worth a watch if you can catch it on TV for free or find a copy going very cheap somewhere, mine cost about 30 pence at which I can't really complain at! -
Vomitron_G3 August 2011This adaptation of a Robert A. Heinlein novel puts things right into gear when Eric Thal, Julie Warner and the ever-competent Donald Shutterland rush off to Ambrose, Iowa to investigate a registered UFO landing. However, collective-minded alien parasites have already begun to take over, turning humans into puppets to do their bidding. Writing trio Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio & David S. Goyer manage to tie things up fashionably, but also overworked themselves providing just about everything. Being a mixture of sci-fi, horror, thriller, action and drama, it's safe to say the wholesome feels a bit disjoint at places. The animatronic slug-like parasites by Roy Arbogast & Co. are a fine creation and get plenty of screen-time. Ambitious entertainment.
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Not having read the original novel written by Robert A, Heinlein this film is based on one can't compare the two but as a film this is good in the first half but gets more unimpressive as it shambles along to the rather ludicrous climax. It is a shame as the scary alien special effects are suitably icky and in a main role Donald Sutherland is excellent. The rest of the cast pale in comparison even though there are fine thespians like Yaphet Kotto. Andrew Robinson and Richard Belzer but they are wasted in side roles. The two other main leads, Eric Thal and Julie Warner are bland. There is a lot going on in the film but it doesn't hang together. Perhaps it needed a longer form like a TV series
At the start the lady scientist from NASA gets suspicious of the possessed men because they didn't look down her cleavage. I thought that was silly as later in a film an alien wants to do all kinds of naughty things with her. It didn't make sense, like other things in this rambling film. -
bowmanblue8 January 2017'The Puppet Masters' is famous for... well, not much really. It kind of slipped under the mainstream consciousness in the wake of the (far superior) X-files and the general craze that aliens were about to knock on our door with ray-guns blazing. However, just because it tries to be every (alien-related) X-files episode in one go doesn't actually mean it's a bad film. Especially the opening anyway.
It starts off pretty damn good... an alien 'something' crashes in a small American town and we join a quartet of government agents sent in to investigate. And, one of said agents is the wonderfully-dry Donald Sutherland, who cares about nothing more than thwarting the plans of those extraterrestrial nasties at all costs (and no matter who he has to whack with his walking stick to do so). Naturally, they soon find that this is no hoax and the whole world is under attack from leaping jellyfish-like space monsters who want nothing more than to insert their slimy tongues into the backs of our necks and ride our collective bodies like race of particularly docile broncos.
However, once this is unveiled the agents leave small town America and go back to their base to study the creatures and work out a plan of counter-attack. This is where the film kind of slows down a bit, which is a shame as it comes about an eighth of the way through the film and we still have practically an hour and a half left of run-time.
What follows becomes a lot less tense and far more predictable. Donald Sutherland is sadly too old to really be the true 'hero' of the film and we're left with his far less charismatic on-screen son to fight the good fight. Don't expect any Independence Day aerial dogfights either. The aliens are barely seen and there isn't a lot of action in it. Overall it comes across as a bit of a 'made-for-TV' movie.
However, just because the film trails off early doesn't mean that I can bring myself to hate it. The Puppet Masters has always been a bit of a 'guilty pleasure' film of mine. It's cheesy and low budget and desperately wants to be a big budget A-list film, only it doesn't have the star power or money behind it to make it so.
If you like your alien invasion movies (or are stuck in a perpetual time warp where you're in the nineties and still believe Area 51 holds the bodies of the Roswell aliens) then this one isn't so bad. I think one of the reasons it never did that well at the Box Office is because most people may resent paying full price for it. However, in this age of internet websites which stream movies like this as part of a package, it's definitely one to add to your watchlist if you fancy something that won't stretch your mental powers too much.
Mulder and Scully were obviously on holiday when this alien invasion occurred. -
This movie has all the elements I like. Donald Sutherland is one of my favorite actors, I like Science Fiction, Robert Heinlein is one of my favorite authors. I also like horror movies. How could all these potentially great elements be combined into one of the worst movies I've ever seen? It is forgivable to change the story, if the changes make for better filming, but in this movie the changes don't improve anything. The added material is pointless as well. I could go on for many lines, but this abysmal movie is just not worth wasting the time. What's the line? "They managed to snatch failure from the very jaws of success"!
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CubsandCulture11 July 2022This is a diverting alien invasion, parasite film that is distinctly a B-movie with a budget. It is fun way to waste a few hours and if you like this type of film this one is worth seeing. It isn't very intense and the film lacks any subtext or pointed political barbs. (The novel is a thinly disguised anti-Communist/Russian work)
It also lacks much of Heinlein's excesses and reactionary nonsense. The novel profoundly plays out like we must defeat space communism by becoming nudists! (Heinlein was a nudist) the film greatly cut backs on that notion. Largely gone too is the antifeminist nonsense of women manipulating men with sex. (Sam in the book has a series of "masters" besides the parasites) There's none of the gross orgies and absurdist violence that is in the novel. The film to its credit merely takes the most basic plot from the novel and runs with it.
I don't recommend people track this or the novel down. But if it is on at 1:30 in the morning, meh you might as well watch. -
NikTesla5 September 1998Here we have yet another Hollywood butchering of science fiction. Unfortunately Hollywood executives seem to think that Science Fiction fans are either idiots who cannot see the cavernous plot holes (ala Independence Day) or like the butchery of a good book into a movie that seems to use only the barest plot parts and character names.
Times and places are changed. It becomes something that only America can solve. Love stories get thrown in for no sane reason. Parts that would make the movie seem more plausible and give an insite into the reason for the invasion in the first place are chopped to a couple of minutes. The easiest way of identifying who does and doesn't have a slug on their back is completely ignored for some unexplained reason. The authorities (e.g. the President) are in almost from the start in the book, but not in the movie. More than one state is involved in the book, compared to three town in the movie. In fact the part of the book that involves other countries is completely ignored. And in the book, there is no "happy ending" where the hero goes wandering off hand in hand with his obligatory love interest.
Judge for yourselves, but I bet the rumblings from RAH's grave were heard for months after this travesty was foisted on the public. -
mikeferguson17 January 2023...the director really letting him down by not taking him aside on Day One of this shoot, and telling him to CLOSE HIS FRIGGIN' MOUTH! I mean, come on...throughout the entire movie, the poor schmuck has his mouth agape in the same manner he did during the time he was temporarily infested with the alien (which "worked" then, to help portray the horror of the mind/body takeover he was experiencing), but after he was back to normal, and he kept making the same face, it got to be REALLY creepy! Every time he's running, or involved in any sort of physical exertion, there he is, looking like he's infested again! I really do feel sorry for the guy - he seemed competent enough as an actor, if a bit stiff, but as his later resume would seem to indicate, this performance did not do his career any favors, and in my opinion, you can hang that on the director. I really like this movie; whoever shot it (DP-wise) did a great job, but every time I watch it, I can't help but be sad that the director let this major flaw continue thru the whole darn film. But if you can get past that aspect, I think you'll agree this is a fun alternative version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and worth watching.
Peace! MFF/Honolulu 1-17-23. -
Jemiah26 April 1999I can't believe people actually attempted to take this film seriously -- none of the actors involved seemed to! Especially the always dapper Donald Sutherland, who devours lines like "I can fly a helicopter!" with campy relish. If you're a hardcore Heinlein freak, don't bother with "Puppet Masters" -- it'll only break your heart -- but if you're a fan of extremely goofy, preposterous sci-fi nonsense, run out and rent it today, grab a couple of your more cheese-tolerant buddies and a couple of six packs, and settle in for a couple of hours of goo, ACTING!!, clumsily depicted paranoia, and some gut-busting laughs.
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clogsdon12 July 2005Problem #1: The chief problem with this film is its ridiculous screenplay. The film can't decide if it wants to be a mindless action flick or a character-driven sci-fi drama. So what you get is an alien invasion story where all the leads get "infected" by the aliens but are somehow saved by their friends while scores of infected extras get mowed down by machine-gun fire. If a lead character is infected, their buddies come up with all sorts of ways to peel the alien critter off, but if Farmer Joe comes running at them with a lug wrench, no one hesitates to pump him full of holes.
Problem #2: Richard Belzer is in this movie and he is given not a single funny line! SPOILER: When his character ices himself, I felt like it was Richard Belzer's way of saying, "This flick stinks, I'm outta here." Problem #3: The final, cliché helicopter action sequence. It seemed like it they filmed it for another movie or something and just tagged it onto the end of this one.