Puppet Master: the Littlest Reich

No knowledge of the previous 12 instalments in the surprisingly durable cult series - keystones of veteran budge-horror producer Charles Band's Full Moon brand - is necessary to enjoy the schlocky delights in this litany of silly plotting, grisly gross-outs and bad-taste humour. As collectors of the creepy dolls created by notorious murderer André Toulon converge on a Texas small-town convention celebrating the 30th anniversary of his violent death, an ancient evil animates all their clockwork marionettes to carry out horrific Master Race-inspired hate-crime slaughter. Scripted with genre élan by S Craig Zahler (Bone Tomahawk, Brawl in Cell Block 99), slickly directed by Swedish duo Tommy Wiklund and Sonny Laguna (Wither) and starring a canny mix of American comedians and horror icons (Udo Kier, Barbara Crampton, Michael Paré), it's nonetheless a messy concoction where too many characters indulge in ludicrously gory spectacle with little logic.