The Correct Order To Watch The Puppet Master Movies

David Schmoeller's 1989 film "Puppet Master" was almost going to be a theatrical release in the summer of 1989, but pivoted to the VHS market at the last minute. Looking at the 1989 supper movie season, one can see why producer Charles Band made the decision. "Puppet Master" would have opened against "Batman," "Ghostbusters II," "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," "Back to the Future Part II," "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier," "License to Kill," and "Lethal Weapon 2." There were just too many blockbusters it would've had to compete with.

Its movement to the straight-to-video market might have reduced its prestige, but "Puppet Master" spawned many, many sequels (not to mention a few crossovers) that persist to this day (the most recent "Puppet Master" film was released in 2022). The killer puppets in the film have become minor horror icons and often serve as the face of Full Moon Features, a prolific low-budget genre studio deeply adored by the world's many horror lovers and schlock-hunters. Even "Puppet Master" neophytes will recognize the pale, scary face of Blade, the drill-headed imp Tunneler, the worm-puking Leech Woman, the face-swapping Jester, or the big-handed Pinhead.

The puppets were realized mostly through actual puppetry and sometimes with stop-motion animation. The films are notoriously low-budget, but several of them are legitimately good. "Puppet Master II" is a straight-up great film. "Puppet Master III" envisioned their origins — they were created by a puppeteer named André Toulon — and their direct connections to World War II.

There have been 15 "Puppet Master" movies to date, and that's not including the whole, extant Full Moon universe they have crossed over with. For your convenience, we shall provide two lists below. One will be just the "Puppet Master" movies and the other the entire FMCU.

Here is the release order of the "Pupper Master" movies. 

• "Puppet Master" (1989)
• "Puppet Master II" (1990)
• "Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge" (1991)
• "Puppet Master 4" (1993)
• "Puppet Master 5" (1994)
• "Curse of the Puppet Master" (1998)
• "Retro Puppet Master" (1999)
• "Puppet Master: The Legacy" (2003)
• "Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys" (2004)
• "Puppet Master: Axis of Evil" (2010)
• "Puppet Master X: Axis Rising" (2012)
• "Puppet Master: Axis Termination" (2017)
• "Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich" (2018)
• "Blade: The Iron Cross" (2020)
• "Puppet Master: Doktor Death" (2022)

The first eight "Puppet Master" movies exist, more or less, in the same continuity, although out of chronological order ("Toulon's Revenge" and "Retro" are prequels).

Various actors played André Toulon throughout (William Hickey in the first, Steve Welles the second, Guy Rolfe in the third, fourth, and fifth).

In "Puppet Master 4," the killer dolls became heroic, killing even more vicious homunculi than they. "Retro Puppet Master" was a prequel that depicted Toulon as a young man played by Greg Sestero from "The Room." "The Legacy" was a collection of clips from the previous movies, sandwiched in between limp bookend material.

"Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys" is a crossover that seems detached from the other "Puppet Master" movies. Full Moon certainly didn't count it, as "Puppet Master X" was actually the 11th film in the series. The three "Axis" films are a reboot of the continuity and recount a lot of plot points from the first three movies in a new fashion.

In 2018, "Puppet Master" was rebooted with redesigned puppets who were now scary killers again. Indeed, the new puppets were programmed by Nazis in his version and they sought out non-Aryans to kill. "Blade" and "Doktor Death" are individual spinoffs that feature their title puppets in new adventures.

Because of "Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys" — put out by Syfy, and not Full Moon — there is now overlap in the Full Moon universe. Know that Charles Band, the Full Moon head honcho, has a fetish for homunculi and miniature killers, having overseen multiple movies about murderous dolls, imps, toys, or undersized aliens. It only stands to reason that all the various puppets and dolls should eventually interact ... which they did. 

Extrapolating back from "PMvDT," one can find other crossovers in the Full Moon universe, leading to an entire expansive super-series almost as large as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Here, then, is the entire Full Moon Cinematic Universe, including every film that directly connects to another. Thanks to a cameo by one of the Demonic Toys, Jack-Attack, in the movie "Evil Bong," all the "Evil Bong" and "Gingerdead Man" movies are also included. All told, there are 37 movies in this series. They are:

• "Puppet Master" (1989)
• "Puppet Master II" (1990)
• "Dollman" (1991)
• "Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge" (1991)
• "Demonic Toys" (1992)
• "Bad Channels" (1992)
• "Dollman vs. Demonic Toys" (1993)
• "Puppet Master 4" (1993)
• "Puppet Master 5" (1994)
• "Curse of the Puppet Master" (1998)
• "Retro Puppet Master" (1999)
• "Puppet Master: The Legacy" (2003)
• "Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys" (2004)
• "The Gingerdead Man" (2005)
• "Evil Bong" (2006)
• "Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust" (2008)
• "Evil Bong 2: King Bong" (2009)
• "Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver" (2009)
• "Demonic Toys: Persona Demons" (2010)
• "Puppet Master: Axis of Evil" (2010)
• "Evil Bong 3D: The Wrath of Bong" (2011)
• "Puppet Master X: Axis Rising" (2012)
• "Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong" (2013)
• "Evil Bong 420" (2015)
• "Evil Bong: High-5! (2016)
• "Puppet Master: Axis Termination" (2017)
• "Evil Bong 666" (2017)
• "Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich" (2018)
• "Evil Bong 777" (2018)
• "Blade: The Iron Cross" (2020)
• "Baby Oopsie" (2021)
• "The Gingerweed Man" (2021)
• "Baby Oopsie 2: Murder Dolls" (2022)
• "Puppet Master: Doktor Death" (2022)
• "Evil Bong 888: Infinity High" (2022)
• "Baby Oopsie 3: Burn Baby Burn" (2022)
• "Demonic Toys: Jack-Attack" (2023)

Watch them all. Become strong.