I haven’t thought about Full Moon in years. While they haven’t been relevant to me in a long while, they are an important piece of the horror puzzle that shaped my love of the genre. Everything from Dollman to Demonic Toys, Subspecies, Trancers, Shadowzone, Robot Jox and even, yes, Puppet Master, the company was responsible for some incredible low budget masterpieces that belong in every horror fan’s collection.
Coming completely out of left field, Bloody Disgusting has learned that Di Bonaventura Pictures, who was responsible for the awesome Stephen King adaptation 1408, as well as Transformers, has partnered up with Caliber Media (Dark Was the Night, Some Kind of Hate) to option the rights to develop a brand new take on Charles Band’s cult classic horror film franchise Puppet Master.
The intention is to expand the mythology by producing multiple storylines within a new universe, much like Avengers or X-Men, and have set Bone Tomahawk‘s S. Craig Zahler to write the first script entitled Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich. A director is yet to be announced.
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.
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 original Puppet Master is an American horror film franchise that focuses on a group of anthropomorphic puppets animated by an Egyptian spell, each equipped with their own unique and dangerous device and are represented as heroes, anti-heroes, and antagonists. Produced by Band and his Full Moon Features label, the series was established in 1989 with the eponymous first installment, which has since been followed by numerous sequels, comic books, collector’s items and toys.
The film will be produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Doom, Constantine, The Devil Inside) and Mark Vahradian for di Bonaventura Pictures alongside Dallas Sonnier and Jack Heller for Caliber Media. Charles Band will executive produce.
“As a child of the 80’s and 90’s, I spent a vast majority of my allowance on Charles Band-produced films,” said Dallas Sonnier.
“Puppet Master was hands down my favorite, and I had the movie poster on my wall and a giant standee in my bedroom. The chance for us to work with Lorenzo, Zahler, and Band all at once on this new take is simply a dream come true.” Heller Said “We couldn’t be more excited to take the series in a new direction while embracing all the practical effects and terrifying insanity that fans of The Puppet Master films love.”
