Now this was one movie at the Nightmares Film Festival that was getting buzz. I saw images from it and I'll be honest, it is nightmare fuel. That was fitting for the midnight slot of Saturday at the festival. I was geared up to watch this with a red bull, snacks and an alcoholic drink. This was the Ohio premiere as well.
Synopsis: Les Hackel (voiced by James Marsters) is a guy down on his luck who wakes to find an explosive device that has been implanted in his neck.
The reason that this is nightmare fuel is the fact that we have puppets as the characters. We follow Les who is struggling in life. His girlfriend, Allison (voiced by Kerry Finlayson), just broke up with him. He hangs out with his buddy of Danny (voiced by Jordan Peele) who tries to cheer him up. Les is getting back on the wagon and giving up alcohol. This should be a good thing. He almost hits a little girl in the road, but it looks like someone pushed her. This is just the start.
He receives a message saying that he has a bomb in his neck. He is told the different things that he must do or he will die. This journey takes him to meet people like Sal (voiced by the late Sid Haig), Mr. Salk (Robert Englund) and even to the police. Police Chief Richter (Christopher McDonald) wants him to confess, but Les doesn't know to what. He goes on this journey along with Chelsea (Hana Mae Lee), who is a student, to figure it out. She might also be involved in this wild plot against him. Things might not be what they seem though.
So now I know went light on the recap. Part of that was this was the last movie on a long day at the theater. I was fighting to stay away since I don't normally stay up this late anymore. To be honest though, this is more of a movie that you need to experience. It is so surreal to have all the characters be puppets. It does fit in with the allegory behind this and what the ultimate reveal to what is happening. It is quite clever. I don't want to spoil this though as I think this needs to be seen for sure.
Now that I've set that up, let me delve into things just a bit deeper. Les is a guy who is just floating through life. His girlfriend just broke up with him as she finds the things he is interested in boring. Part of this is that he still lives at home so she doesn't come there to visit him. There is more to it though. He's been distracted lately. This is something that is perfectly normal. He decided to give up drinking and there's a reason behind it. It seems like he developed amnesia to avoid dealing with something that happened. There are subtle things said to him to reinforce that. There are also little things that if you're paying attention, play into the reveal.
The people that he meets also factor in as well. Police Chief Richter wants him to confess, which makes sense. Mr. Salk and Sal go on short journeys with him. What I like here as well is the fact that there is a shadow organization pulling the strings on multiple characters. The pun is also intended. They also have devices in their neck and if they don't do what their told, they'll be killed. That is terrifying and gave me vibes of The Belko Experiment. There is the scary idea of crimes being committed by people who need to or their lives could be in jeopardy.
Bringing back up that everyone is puppets, I need to talk about filmmaking. These are so lifelike is scary in its own rights. This allows them to do more when they go to killings because they're not alive. There is good editing here that people will be used from longer shots or from behind. I thought that was a creative way to do this. It also looks real for good reason. The amount of blood we got surprised me in a good way. The effects of this are great. I'll also say the soundtrack is good. Since people are voicing the puppets, I'll say sound design is great. There's an excellent cast of voices here.
Since I can't fully judge the acting, I'll use this to honor the actors. I completely was immersed in this that I forgot our lead is Marsters. He's a good-looking guy but his character is plain. He had a good voice to make me believe his puppet was a loser. This also worked in the favor of McDonald, Peele, Lee, Englund and Haig. I picked up on the last two, just because their voices are so distinct. They all fit their characters though. I'll also credit the rest of the cast for bringing their puppets to life as well.
I don't think there's anything else to delve into here so in conclusion, this is a wild movie. It is nightmarish just seeing puppets being used as the actors. What is great here though is the story we see is surreal and dreamlike. That makes sense in the end. I thought the message this was conveying was great. It is relative. How the bits of evidence and information get incorporated into different things in Les' life was great. I was impressed by what they did with the effects here, both with bringing the puppets to life and the blood effects. The voice acting is good as well. I should just say that this is well-made. One that I want to revisit now for sure now that the first awe of what they did has passed.
My Rating: 8 out of 10.
