Curse of the Witch's Doll

I went into this knowing it was going to be a low budget indie film. So all the symptoms are there: mediocre acting, cheap special effects, cheap set designs, amateur writing, etc. However, I do appreciate the attempt to make something great, and with a bigger budget I believe this could've been much better. Still, there are a few negative things to get out of the way. The actors are clearly trying their best, and they aren't terrible by any means, but it ultimately ends up feeling like a local amateur stage play. Also, I don't understand why this movie had to be a period piece, especially considering the budgetary restraints. The best compliment I can give to the flick is that the doll looks great. It's genuinely frightening and the CGI effects on the doll are decent enough, once again considering the low budget. I also did enjoy some of the music, and the story was at least interesting enough to keep me invested throughout.

All in all, if you're a fan of independent low budget slow-burn horror, you may enjoy this. Otherwise, you might be better off skipping it.

This is the kind of film that likes to confuse the hell out of you from the start. It changes time frames, character names, brings back people who were dead from the beginning of the film.....but that's ok as you can blame it on a rather cheap looking doll. This will take you on a journey of discovery...the discovery that there are better films out there worth watching. There are no jump scares and it's only slightly atmospheric in places. The film just seems to plod on. I can't help but think it's a major waste of time and I'm glad I got to watch it for free on my Amazon Prime account.

Curse Of The Witch's Doll is an odd film, it's set across three generations and arguably tells three connected stories. Trouble is they aren't connected in an interesting way and none of them are even remotely enjoyable.

We see a woman during the 1940's fleeing the bombings with her daughter, a psychologist with a horrifying secret and your usual ghost hunters investigating an abandoned asylum.

The one thing I will say is that the doll in question is genuinely scary, that thing is deeply disturbing which begs the question why they use a different one on the front cover.

It's about half way through when it all falls apart, you can pinpoint the exact moment. Don't get me wrong it wasn't going anywhere special anyway, but it was at least heading for something generic instead of the mess it wound up as.

Curse Of The Witch's Doll is notable only for the doll itself, nothing else is memorable or entertaining.

The Good:

That doll is horrifying

The Bad:

Cover art is deceptive

Falls apart irreparably

Poorly constructed

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

We need a spinoff from this with that doll, made by different people who know what they're doing.

A large part of me actually wanted to enjoy 'Curse of the Witch's Doll'. The idea for the story was so intriguing, it looked pretty creepy with a very unnerving-looking doll and the cover, while suggestive of the film being derivative of 'Annabelle', was good-looking.

'Curse of the Witch's Doll' was not a terrible film and had its moments and good things. Another good thing is that despite any fears it is not a carbon copy or rip-off of 'Annabelle', despite its deceptive advertising indicating this. Those moments and good things conversely were too few, and not enough to save the film from not doing anywhere near enough with its concept. A shame because there was a decent film in 'Curse of the Witch's Doll'.

Some of the first half actually was pretty good. There are unsettling moments, and a real creepiness and suspense. The doll agreed is genuinely eerie as is the music score.

Moreover, 'Curse of the Witch's Doll' has a slick, atmospheric and unsettling visual look. The acting is better than average generally.

There are issues with the pace though. Creepiness and suspense don't come consistently in the first half, there are dull stretches and it does take a little too long to get going. The characters are sketchy in development, and there is very little interesting or explored with the witch's character or back-story.

Do have to agree that 'Curse of the Witch's Doll' falls apart in the second half, where the creepiness and suspense is minimised further and things get duller, weirder and sometimes plain silly. The ending is one rushed and incomplete anti-climax, where it doesn't really end or resolve much needed questions leaving things hanging in the air.

Overall, lacklustre and doesn't do enough with the promise that it had. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Right, well while I had never heard about this 2018 horror movie from writer and director Lawrence Fowler, I still opted to watch the movie, as I had the opportunity here in 2025. Sure, given the low rating the movie had landed here on IMDb, then I wasn't really getting my hopes up. But still, giving the movie a fair chance, perhaps writer and director Lawrence Fowler would surprise me.

It was a slow, sluggish and clunky storyline, that felt very disjointed and seemed to be lacking a red thread. It felt mostly like director Lawrence Fowler was just filming each scene independently of the cohesive narrative, and thus it was a somewhat stinted viewing experience. It was a struggle to get immersed into the narrative as it just felt incomplete.

I was not familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list. The acting performances in the movie were fair, but the actors and actresses didn't really have much to work with, truthfully.

This was a boring movie, and quite a struggle to sit through, as nothing scary or actually worthwhile happened as the narrative moved along at a monotonous snail paced speed. It was, for a lack of a better word, boring.

My rating of writer and director Lawrence Fowler's 2018 movie "Curse of the Witch's Doll" lands on a three out of ten stars.