Attack of the Puppet People (1958)

Attack of the Puppet People (1958)

Directed by: Bert I. Gordon

Starring: John Agar, John Hoyt, June Kenney

Talk about a massively misleading title. I know it’s considered classic now, or maybe it’s just campy, but this sort of sensationalist title may be awesome, but boy does it make watching the actual movie a disappointment.

A woman gets a job as a secretary for an eccentric dollmaker and puppeteer. She doesn’t realize quite how crazy he is until her fiancee goes missing and she sees a new doll of his… which looks exactly like him. As it turns out, the guy’s crazy and has a machine that shrinks people down to the size of dolls so he can keep them with him all the time.

What makes this movie a little better than the standard sort of 50’s horror movie is that the villain is simultaneously creepy and pitiful. John Hoyt plays a normal guy who lost someone close to him, and he responds to this by trying to keep people with him forever, even if it means turning them all tiny and keeping them in jars. You feel bad for him because you know that he’s a monster, but you can also tell that he just doesn’t realize what he’s doing is wrong. Hoyt’s performance is what makes Attack of the Puppet People more than just another gimmicky Bert I. Gordon movie, and makes it worth seeing.