Worst/creepiest puppets/puppeteer work

[Mo Frackle]

I . . . I actually don't know what made me think of this again, but . . .

So, almost ten years ago, I found this Film School 101 production on YouTube called WONDERBANG ISLAND. Now, this was supposed to be an homage to H.R. PUFNSTUF, with a "what-if" scenario involving Jimmy having grown up on the island and becoming fed up with all of the zaniness around him. Now . . . ehh . . . the characters and the suits and all are actually rather well-done for a no-budget film school project, and the scenery and everything is very much Krofft-like, so I give it A for effort for that . . . but the story . . . the story is just so . . . it's so disturbing and kind of dark, that it makes the whole film seem all the more creepy when factoring the Krofft-like atmosphere into the equation, which somehow doesn't even help the story.

So, if you think you can stomach it, here it is - and IMHO, part 1 starts off okay, parts 2 and 3 get darker and more disturbing, and part 4 is just downright depressing. Oh, and caution: there's a couple of racist caricature characters, a strongly implied rape scene, a tries-to-be-graphic depiction of a diseased baby dying, and defacation. . . . All wrapped in a Krofft homage:

Wow... that was... um.... interesting. Creative, certainly. Not to mention dark. As someone who has majored in this area, I wouldn't say that I would call this Film 101 quality - it's better than that, honestly.

 

[D'Snowth]

I wasn't saying the quality is Film 101, I'm saying that this really was this guy's film school project (I think there's information about that during the end titles).

 

[VentSenpai]

Behold!

Well I won't be sleeping tonight...

 

[Luke kun]

 

[Mo Frackle]

Reminiscent of Bobby Benson's babies, only more grotesque and disturbing than humorous and entertaining.

 

[D'Snowth]

Once again, this is an example that I would say A for effort, but the combination of poor performance and low quality video kind of makes it worse than it is. That, and whoever did this is calling this "Muppets."

 

[mr3urious]

Now here's something I'm curious about. There was an old French children's block that aired in the '80s called Zappe! Zappeur. It was essentially about a lazy dog with an short attention span who has a habit of rapidly channel surfing, eventually causing it to explode in a Muppety fashion. It was a beloved show to many people in France who grew up in that period, so much so that no one has bothered to upload any taped footage yet.

But the theme song does exist in album form.

http://lostmediawiki.com/Zappe!_Zappeur_(lost_French_children's_puppet_show_block;_1987)

 

[WereFox]

That triangle shaped thing looks like cheese.

You know, in that case, I would actually eat it, as long as it doesn't scream in horror when I sink my teeth in... Oh wait, it's a wizard's hat.

 

[ErinAardvark]

Some of this stuff makes me appreciate Nickelodeon's first show, "Pinwheel," a little more. Of course, your mileage may vary when it comes to the puppets and the puppetry used on it.

 

[WereFox]

Here is a REAL horrifying Christian puppet. Meet Stephanie, if you dare...

Hideous, huh? The title says it all!