Finders Keepers

I didn't expect much from Jamie Pressly as a serious actress but I must say she wasn't terrible, not great but better than expected at least.

Story albeit predictable is somewhat enjoyable BUT yeah the big issue here is not the acting or or the plot which from a killer doll movie you really can't expect much from anyways.

Looking at the cover of course it made me think "ooh wee another killer doll movie like Chucky, this can be good fun if nothing else".

BUT, the doll doesn't actually move on screen it's all done behind camera or shot in a way where you can only see for instance a knife being moved around and the stabbing victim etc, you don't actually get to see the doll doing of the stabbing or making any funny remarks (like Chucky would have) while doing it.

Had it shown that this would have been a vastly more enjoyable experience, I understand that it would be hard to make it look realistic but I'd rather have them do it poorly looking than just to avoid it completely.

Woman buys house then realises it is haunted. Or something is. She has a child, in this case a daughter, but if you've seen a similar offering in which the woman has a son or the man has a son, or there is a family or a whole bunch of them, you might be forgiven for experiencing a sense of déjà vu. Guess what comes next, and you get only the one guess. Of course, murders, lots of them!

There is no secret about the root of the evil as from the off we are made aware of the reason the house is haunted, there had been a massacre there, one committed by a ten year old boy, who also murdered the two police officers who were sent to investigate the initial disturbance, or whatever it was.

Kylie Rogers who plays Claire was only 10 years old when this film was released. If her role does not constitute child abuse then an adult willingly sitting through 80+ minutes of this constitutes self-abuse (no, not in that sense, you reprobate). Indeed there is no sex to speak of in this film, not that a rape, an orgy or even a knee trembler could have made it appreciably worse.

Finders Keepers attempts to capture some of the essence of classic puppet/children horror, with the first person camerawork reminiscent of the Puppetmaster or Chucky films. However, its heavy reliance on the supernatural element detracts from a firm grounding of reality that could have made the story more compelling.

Despite a surprisingly high body count, the low-budget film fails to evoke any genuine terror or fear. The only real layers to the film are Tobin Bell's role as a child psychiatrist. His character's accusations of child abuse against Alyson (played by Jaime Pressly) are the only moments the film tries to explore deeper themes.

The story revolves around a young girl, Claire (Kylie Rogers), who discovers a Muneca, (a South American Voodoo doll) while moving into her new home named Lilith. It's discovered that possessing someone else's Muneca brings bad luck, and as the film progresses, the doll begins to feed off and possess Claire's emotions attempting to merge her soul with its own.

The most notable death scenes in the film involve a few cats skinned in the backyard and a woman who gets set alight after being doused in gasoline However, the reasoning behind the ensuing killing spree wis just simply because.

Going way back to films like Chucky, whose origins are tied to a murderous killer's soul, this Muneca seems to embody a more generalized supernatural entity that isn't explored.

The killings, while trying to be unique, don't really begin until the latter half of the film, which feels a little drawn out and slow. Furthermore, the visual effects in the final stages of the film where dark clouds manifest in the corners of the attic comes off as cringe.

In summary, Finders Keepers offers little more than the experience of a forgettable B-grade horror film. It lacks depth, clarity, and narrative flow, leaving you pondering how you might have better spent your precious time.

3/10.

This film is so painfully awful. Basically, a family is murdered by their son who is possessed by a doll. 5 years later a divorced mother and her 9 yr old daughter move in. The kid finds the doll and then this absolute lazy joke of a film starts.

In short, both parents are going through a tough time with the divorce and now their 9 year old is throwing tantrums and being the most irritating rude child you could imagine. The daughter in this movie is just a brat, plain and simple. The director wants you to feel sorry for her but she screeches her way through an hour and half that I'll never get back.

There is a rinse and repeat in the film about 10 times. In short, everyone the little brat comes into contact with whether directly or indirectly, verbally or visually, she kills them. Well the doll kills them. So anytime someone appears on screen that's not her mother, father or Tobin Bell who is wasted in this movie by having 2 scenes as a child psychiatrist, they are gonna die. Some of them, under the same circumstances as people earlier in the film. Honestly it is laughable how both parents after finding out about at least a dozen murders don't decide to something other than stare in disbelief at their annoying little psycho daughter.

Save yourself the time and watch any other horror you come across

Alyson (Jaime Pressly) and her daughter Clair (Kylie Rogers) move into a home, but unknown to them, it has an evil past. The people who lived there before them were murdered by their 8-yr old son who had become possessed by an evil doll. Now, Clair has become possessed by the same doll, which she found inside a vent in her room.

I have to say I was impressed by Jaime Pressly's acting in this. This is the first time I've seen her in a straight out dramatic role. Granted, I haven't seen that many things with her, but she was very good in this. However, I didn't like her hairstyle. The front of it wasn't bad, but the almost shaved back of her head was very odd to see on a woman, and they must have had about 4 different scenes where they had a close up of it. Kylie Rogers did a very good job as well as the troubled and possessed Clair. Patrick Muldoon portrayed Alyson's ex-husband. I haven't seen him in anything since Starship Troopers. He was more of a side-character in this, as the movie was much more focused on Pressly and Rogers.

I gave this a 4-star rating. I wouldn't want to see it again, because I'm not a fan of possession movies, but I enjoyed it enough to sit through it. I have to say that parts of this kind of reminded me of The Conjuring. For something from the SyFy channel, this was surprisingly watchable.