Andrew's (Keith Collins) a fairly good-looking and charming guy who
never seems to have much trouble picking up girls and taking them home
with him - but they matter very little to him as he's deeply in love with
Terri (Daniela Rivera), and he especially admires what a good mother she
is for her son. Problem is, Terri isn't at all into him, she finds him
creepy, and does her best to keep him at arm's length, turning him down
every time he asks her out ... and that's for the better, really, because
Andrew doesn't really pick up all these women for the sex but to kill
them, cook them, and eat them up together with his perverted aunt Claire
(Geri Reischl) who has brought him up and now lives (and has sex) with
him. Of course, the disappearance of all these women doesn't go
unnoticed, and investigating the case, detectives Benash (Brandon
Ruckdashel) and O'Brien (Chris Wilkes) stumble upon Terri, who has seen
Andrew with one of the victims - but when detective O'Brien wants to
question Andrew, he runs into a death trap. O'Brien's disappearance
worries detective Benash to no end, and now he's convinced Andrew's the
killer of the piece, but since O'Brien has a history with alcohol and is
known for his drinking binges, nobody takes his absence from duty all that
seriously ... upon which Benash asks Terri to play bait for him and go out
on a date with Andrew after all - and from there on the situation gets
completely out of hand ... The Meat Puppet is a clever
little serialkiller movie that actually manages to have the audience
identify with its villain for the most part of its running time without
that feeling just wrong: Sure, Andrew's a sick bastard, but he's also
extremely vulnerable, he has had a childhood filled with violence that
explains a lot about his current behaviour, and in a way, he's only the
puppet of his aunt Claire, who seems to relish in leading him astray. This
is of course helped by a multi-layered performance by Keith Collins (who
also penned the story for the film) and a restrained directorial effort
that for the most part stays away from becoming too drastic and losing the
audience that way - but what's hinted at is sure enough sickening enough
once you play the scene in your head. Above that, the film is also very
nicely paced and has shocks and suspense in all the right places, making
this a really tight little genre effort!
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