One of the greatest puppet movies of all time is Team America. I actually bought the DVD I liked it so much. There are some hilarious extra scenes that were cut from the theatrically released version.

I'm not sure if its exactly puppets or stop motion but I saw a preview for the Coraline movie which seems to fit Skeleton's dark spooky puppet reference, looks to be along the Tim Burton lines.

But isn't Team America more of a parody - I am missing the dark aspect

Los Grumildos is currently playing in NYC until Aug 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8rS_VbD9Ho

"Los Grumildos is a puppetry experience that is part performance and part installation created by Peruvian artist Ety Fefer. This voyeuristic experience invites you to visit a magical land where half human half animal creatures inhabit a kind of B-side fairy tale, and a place where Victorian dollhouse meets burlesque. The puppets are Barbie-sized, plasticine-made hyperrealist automatons, but the Barbie analogy stops here. In the world of Los Grumildos, you will meet a sordid and grotesque cast of characters... those you could find only in the seediest underbellies of the city."

The experience lasts approximately 15 minutes, but audience members are invited to stay as long as they wish.

Puppet peckers?

Wood peckers

Reminds of that Pinnochio joke.....buts lets not go there. (No offence Gepetto)

Watch it, Doug! Don't want to see you get bounced again by the Café Fascists!

For what? I didn't mention Blobama.

Punch and Judy has the potential to be quite bizarre and quite magical too.

Let's not forget San Francisco's own: Bob Hatrmann!

Bob Hartman
http://www.hartmanpuppets.com/Welcome/Home_.html

Brilliantly cute...

Not gory.. but creepy stuff...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6xG4Nf9Dh4

also:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWFaR3Gt0jk

I enjoyed that...Thanks!

Hey, Skeleton!
As a puppeteer who works for Walt Disney World, we're very fortunate to have quite the puppet community here. During the fall, The Orlando Puppet Festival rolls into town and has some amazing performers as part of the event list.
This year one of the featured performances are by this group:
http://www.macabrevignettes.webs.com/
I'm not quite sure they'd be what you're looking for. But you may want to contact them and see if they could suggest someone who might be more into the style you're interested in.
Also Matt Ficnor's Creepy Puppet Project, is awesome! Matt seems like a great guy from the couple of friendly emails we've exchanged and his stuff is really fun.
On occasion, the Orlando Puppet Festival will have last minute additions to the line-up so you may want to check them out as the event begins. Something new may get added at the last minute.
Hope this helps just a little. If you're looking for a grisly puppet, just get involved in the community and someone will, I'm sure, steer you in the right direction.
You may also want to check out the AMAZING puppet builders over at:
http://www.swazzle.com/
Their puppets and puppeteering is just awesome! Can't say enough good things about these guys! Tell'em I sent you and say 'hi' for me!
Take care,
Tony

Bump - still looking for bizarr/gory/horror-puppets and puppeteers?

We have the Grand Guignolers here in Los Angeles. They put on a show a couple times a year. I found their "Absinthe, Opium and Magic" show to be quite entertaining.. a bit campy at times but that's to be expected when you mix puppets and blood. It's a worthy endeavor as the troupe does try to invoke the sprit of the original French Grand guignoler period. (Something you might be interesting in researching). Regardless.. We drank absinthe prior and had a nice experience.
Here is a bit more about it..
http://laist.com/2007/06/05/grand_guignol.php

http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewt......um=14&11