Macabre…ish Horror Review: Robert Reborn

 

Robert Reborn, 2019/ 1 hr 25 min

 

 

A very dysfunctional abusive and religious couple, The Crows, fight in front of their son Robert, when the man strikes his wife, his son runs. Dad is apologetic until Robert confronts him and says he hates him. Dad lashes out, strikes and kills his son. He’s devastated but it’s too late. Next to the late Robert lies his doll.

 

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A doctor (Jon Bard) announces the Czar to be in terminal condition, with only three months to live. He is executed after the czar requests a second opinion.

 

Meanwhile, the toymaker, Amos Blackwood (Lee Bane), is being followed home by an assassin who calls himself Vladimir but the toymaker is always ready and gets the jump on him. The man is disarmed and tied up.

 

Amos has lived in the Soviet Union for a decade and has never met a Russian with a German accent. The man confesses, his name is Adler (David Lenik) and he says the Toymaker’s escape was one of Germany’s most embarrassing failures and a fortune has been spent to find him and to finally retrieve the book.

 

The toymaker suggests a game, Russian Roulette and if Adler survives, Amos will let him go. And if Adler survives and doesn’t leave him alone, Amos promises to turn the fugitive war criminal in. So, Adler survives the game. He demands to be released but Robert made no such promise.

 

A soldier, Olga (Rachel Kapsaski), is sent by Stoichkov (Dennis Farrin) to silence Ivan Troitsky because he talked to western press and used language that they consider a problem. After she finishes the job, Olga, also a lover of dolls, since they were the only friends she had as a child, she spots one of the toymakers flyers advertising enchanted dolls. It’s a show Amos puts on.

 

During the show, he introduces Robert, Cyclops and Kalashnikov and the show is a success. Olga seeks Amos out back stage. She wants to know how they move because she saw no strings or rods. Unsatisfied with his brush off, Olga follows him home and peeks in a window to find out how they move.

 

After returning home, Olga tells Stoichkov about the toymaker, the soviet man with a German accent and his powers. She surmises that if he can make inanimate objects move then maybe his powers can be used to help the czar avoid death. Stoichkov is skeptical, it could still be a trick but he says he’ll look into it.

 

Olga finds out from an informant, a fugitive nazi, he has information about the toymaker, known in Russia as Sergey Meyerhold. He also tells her info about the book and its contents. He confirms that it is said that the book can grant someone eternal life. The next day Olga is sent back to Kaliningrad with 50,000 rubles to offer to buy the book and if he refuses, kill him.

 

She returns to Amos’ show to find him and ask him to return to Moscow with her, with the book to do his magic on the czar. He turns her down and she shoots him. Right after, Kalashnikov opens fire on her. She doesn’t die right away, she lives long enough to see Amos wake up and she’s stunned. Cyclops finishes her off.

 

Five hours later, Olga’s superior, Maj. Stoichkov summon Romanov (Paris Stangl) and Petrov (Peter Svatik), when he doesn’t hear from her. They are told about a high risk target, they will all be going to Kaliningrad tomorrow to lend support. They find Olga’s remains at the theatre and head to Amos’ house.

 

They demand the book and informs Amos that he will be getting on a flight to Moscow. He’ll come willingly or be dragged there. But they do agree to bring his suitcase.

 

Back on the plane Romanov slaps the drunk pilot (John R. Walker) awake to return to Moscow. During the flight, Stoichkov wants to test the book and prove it works. So he kills Romanov and demands Amos prove it on him. And so he does.

 

Meanwhile, the dolls have escaped the case and have gotten to work on taking out the staff. And Romanov is pissed that he was just killed because what if the spell didn’t work?? Stoichkov doesn’t care about this man’s feelings one bit and dismisses him. And he assumes Amos is himself immortal and what would happen if he destroyed his face or he cut off his limbs, he bets Amos wouldn’t want to be immortal then. But Amos tells him he’ll have to be quicker than his children.

 

Stoichkov announces that he never had any plan to take him to the czar, he has plans for the book for himself and gives Amos an offer, 62 million in untraceable rubles. In return, he wants the book and guidance on how to use it. Then once Amos receives his money in Moscow, he leaves the country.

 

But Amos doesn’t want money he wants freedom. Suddenly Romanov comes in with one of his eyeball’s hanging from its socket, after being attacked by a doll. He points his gun at Stoichkov and tells him since he gambled with his life, he has to die and pulled the trigger. Quickly, Amos recites the spell to undo Romanov’s immortality and it works.

 

Amos takes command of the flight and demand the pilot change course. The pilot tries a double cross and one of the dolls takes him out and the toymaker has to crash land the plane into the water.

 

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Back in London, after an examination, it’s been determined that everything has been destroyed but the book, the dolls and the toymaker’s body has barely a bruise on it. And an idiot starts reading the book aloud. The toys wake up and Kalashnikov starts firing on him.

 

In the morgue, Amos, is discovered to have healed from his autopsy. The Y incision has healed. Even though his vital signs make it clear, he is dead. Samples have been sent off to a lab but it appears none of these men will survive to get the results.

 

As Amos, recovers from his death and autopsy, the British government sends someone to recover the book. They’ve been searching for it  and Amos since 1941. But since Amos appears to be decease, they’ll take the book. Unfortunately, Amos and his toys are out of there. He is once again a fugitive but this time, the government is not interested in protecting him.

 

 

 

This is number five in the Robert franchise and the last one written and directed by the late Andrew Jones. This franchise tells the story backward after the first one. It’s more of a story of the toymaker than it is about Robert, though he is integral to the story.

 

The story is very solid and well thought and planned out and for it spanning three countries and decades, it doesn’t feel overly broad and has just enough detail but not some much you’d get lost. There is a lot of nazi in this story, including stock video that may not have been necessary, it does serve as a reminder of the time period the story is supposed to be set in.