Attack of the Puppet People/Village of the Giants

Starring:Tommy Kirk, Johnny Crawford, Beau Bridges, Ron Howard, Joy Harmon, Robert Random, Tisha Sterling, Charla Doherty, Tim Rooney, Kevin O'Neil, Gail Gilmore, Toni Basil, Hank Jones, Jim Begg, Vicki London, Joe Turkel, Freddy Cannon, Mike Clifford, Debi Storm, Rance Howard
Director: Bert I. Gordon
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Description

ATTACK OF THE PUPPET PEOPLE: Original Theatrical Trailer

Customer Reviews:

Size matters.......2006-11-25

When you think of the great directors of American cinema, the name Bert I. Gordon does not come to mind. A creator of cheesy science fiction B-movies, many of his films dealt with giant animals (grasshoppers in The Beginning of the End, ants in Empire of the Ants, etc.) or people (like with War of the Colossal Beast). With Village of the Giants, he revisits this theme with a twist; Attack of the Puppet People, however, depicts the reverse idea.

In Attack of the Puppet People, June Kenny plays a new secretary for a kindly old dollmaker who somehow has created a shrinking machine. He is sort of like a psychotically delusional Mr. Rogers who seems really nice but hates having people leave him, to the point where he shrinks them to doll-size and puts them into suspended animation. Despite the title, the "puppet people" don't do any real attacking; instead, they are merely intent on getting restored to their proper sizes. With low budget actors and effects, this film is far from great but does have its moments.

Village of the Giants, however, features some big name actors in early roles, most notably Ronny (Ron) Howard and Beau Bridges. Veering away from the more "serious" films, this movie is more comedy that horror. Howard is a preadolescent genius who accidentally creates a growth formula, which is stolen and ingested by Bridges and his friends. After becoming giants, they become the ultimate teen rebels and try to enforce laws against adults. The effects may be poor, but the movie itself is an amiable bit of a fluff, more interested in showing teenage girls jiggle to nice but forgettable tunes than with any sort of coherent plot.

I've always had an affection for Village of the Giants since seeing it as a small kid (and not since). Like some of the sillier Disney films (particularly the early Kurt Russell sci-fi comedies), they don't get better as you get older. They may be deeply flawed movies, but I still enjoyed them for what they were, so I am giving them a low four stars; it may be more than they truly merit, but with these sorts of movies, fun always trumps quality.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

Jiminy Glick in La La Wood

John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and Friends: 70th

Doctor Who: Lost in Time - The Patrick Troughton Years 1966-

DVD: Iceman

Richard Wagner - Die Walküre