Back in January, our sister site ShockTillYouDrop posted a feature titled 10 Horror Movies That SHOULD Be Remade, and among the chosen ten was the Puppet Master franchise. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, it seems that wish has come true as S. Craig Zahler of Bone Tomahawk fame has been tapped by mega-producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian (1408, Transformers) to write a new reboot titled Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich, which is planned as the first in an intricate multi-part mythology. Learn more about the Puppet Master reboot below!
The cult classic series, which currently has eleven movies (most of them direct-to-video) to its name, was the brainchild of producer/director Charles Band of Full Moon Features, along with late puppet designer/animator Dave Allen. It concerned a loose group of puppets created by Andre Toulon (originally played by William Hickey) who are endowed with life through an Egyptian spell. These colorful creatures have acted in various films as either the heroes or the villains, often going up against Nazis.
Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich will reportedly involve, “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.”
Band will serve as an executive producer, with di Bonaventura and Vahradian producing for di Bonaventura Pictures alongside Dallas Sonnier and Jack Heller for Caliber Media. A search for a director is underway.
“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,” said Heller.
“As a child of the 80’s and 90’s, I spent a vast majority of my allowance on Charles Band-produced films,” said 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 to work with Lorenzo, Zahler and Band all at once on this new take is simply a dream come true.”
Zahler’s next project as writer/director is Brawl in Cell Block 99, an action movie starring Vince Vaughn which Heller and Sonnier are also producing.
