Review: ‘The Puppetman’ pulls the strings of utter terror

Filmmaker Brandon Christensen has made quite a name for himself in the horror sphere. His works (Superhost, Z, Still/Born) are exercises in gripping storytelling, with Christensen proving he’s a shapeshifter darting between genres with surprising ease. The hype heading into his latest feature, The Puppetman, couldn’t be higher — and I’m happy to report it’s quite a satisfying and wonderfully unsettling treat. The film easily arrives as one of the year’s best releases, featuring bone-rattling imagery and a Psycho-esque money shot.

The writer/director claws himself through a heart-rending story about a young woman named Michal (Alyson Gorske) who must confront her father, a death row inmate awaiting a lethal injection, and finally address her tortured upbringing. As a result of her trauma, Michal sleepwalks, often venturing outside the college dorm room into the hall and finger-painting blood on the wall. Her weird and disturbing behavior indicates that there’s something far more sinister bubbling below the surface. Even more, her emotions are often tied to terrifying events happening to those around her. Christensen excels in crafting flawed characters that you actually care about, which is owed also to Gorske’s delicate but incisive lead performance. Michal’s roommate Charlie (Angel Prater) anchors Michal in a way she so desperately needs, and together, they seem to balance each other out. Their dynamic is contagious, making the film even more emotional when everything goes sideways. And boy, it goes sideways fast.

When her friends start dropping like flies, Michal must find out the truth about her father, who claims the devil made him kill her mother, and what role she plays in the grander picture. An unseen, unnamed force seeks to tear her life to shreds and only she can stop it from happening to anybody else. As her friend group shrinks, the demon (or whatever it might be) grows stronger and forces Michal into a hurricane of epic and bloody proportions. Christensen packs in violence like sardines in a tin can, and the third act is unrelenting.

The Puppetman makes great use of its resources, relying heavily on character and mood to drive the story. Best served to go in blind, Brandon Christensen’s new entry shocks the system with explosive, mangled bits of grisly violence and gore. There’s fire! Crumpled body parts! It’s these surprises that keep you on your toes, as Christensen throws sucker punches every chance he gets. There’s no stopping him. And no one is safe from the demon’s fury. Michal is the key, but she should also be feared the most. The Puppetman twists and turns and bends the back, breaking it in half and serving the fragments up on a silver platter. It’s that good.

The Puppetman lands on Shudder this Friday the 13th.

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