Dolly, la muñeca asesina

There's no getting around the densely populated territory this movie plays in. The "evil doll" notion has been around seemingly forever, and dominated for a long time by the 'Child's play' series that saw the first three entries released all within a few short years (or months!) all before this. Though specifics differ, scenes and story beats recall Don Mancini's brainchild, 'The omen,' and various other genre flicks even including 'The exorcist,' while plot development is decidedly direct and swift. 'Dolly Dearest' is modestly enjoyable, but it also isn't anything to get especially excited about.

I don't think this is altogether bad. It's fairly well made, in fact. The picture ably carries slight measures of atmosphere at times, and a few small moments are almost mildly hair-raising or thrilling. Such as it is, I think 'Dolly Dearest' is reasonably well written and directed; some scenes come off better than others. I like Mark Snow's score in and of itself, dramatic and dynamic; post-production visuals are dated, but effects at large look good. The production design and art direction are swell generally, and the cast are fine - Hey! Denise Crosby! Rip Torn! A job well done, young Candace Hutson! It's hardly gripping and essential, but when all is said and done this is passably entertaining genre fare.

There are issues, however, and the biggest is that there's nothing here we haven't seen before. No matter how well done this or that may be, nothing particularly inspires, let alone elevates one's pulse. It's not quite accurate to say this is "horror by numbers," but such a phrase does loosely approximate how it looks and feels. More concretely, 'Dolly Dearest' is almost certainly at its best where the genre element is more suggested than shown; a dash of subtlety can go a long way. While they look good in and of themselves, the more a scene shows us of the titular toys in action, the more dubious it all becomes. And while the screenplay is suitable enough in the broad strokes, some of the dialogue and scene writing is overly tired, if not outright hackneyed. For all the hard work and care that went into making this, there are definite rough patches throughout the writing, and in some parts that really shows. With this said, the actors on hand perform admirably overall, but there's no doubt they're restricted by the material.

I can't say I didn't have a good time watching. If it's a horror movie you want, a horror movie you'll get. Only, there's a splendid array of other features past and present that are more original, more chilling, more compelling, and all around better. For as fundamentally solid as 'Dolly Dearest' is, weaknesses and shortcomings hold it back to the point that this is best reserved for a lazy, quiet day; file under "why not." Most recommendable specifically for fans of the cast, there are much worse things you could see, but plenty other horror flicks should top your watch list first.

Stumbling upon the 1991 horror movie "Dolly Dearest" here in 2022, I opted to sit down and watch what writers Maria Lease, Rod Nave and Peter Sutcliffe had to offer. I recall one of my friends once commenting on how bad the movie was, so of course I had to sit down and watch it, now that I had the opportunity to do so.

Well, I will say that I didn't find director Maria Lease's 1991 movie "Dolly Dearest" to be all that bad. Sure, it wasn't a milestone in horror cinema, but it was a watchable enough movie for what it turned out to be.

The movie feels somewhat like a watered down cash-in on the success of the first three "Child's Play" movies from 1988, 1990 and 1991. However, "Dolly Dearest" was just lacking the witty banter and humor, and all the killings that the "Child's Play" movies had. But hey, if you enjoy movies with killer dolls and possessed dolls, then you should check out "Dolly Dearest".

The acting performances in the movie was okay, taking into consideration the limitations imposed by a somewhat stale script. It was nice, though, to see the likes of Denise Crosby, Chris Demetral and Rip Torn on the cast list.

Visually then "Dolly Dearest" was okay. I mean, the special effects were adequate, but you're not in for a grand cinematic experience in special effects.

All in all, watchable for what it turned out to be, though I doubt I will ever return to watch it again.

My rating of "Dolly Dearest" lands on a five out of ten stars.

One of the worst movies i have EVER seen, I can't believe that i sat all the way through thinking to myself "it'll get better, it'll get better"...but it didn't get better! The characters were so underdeveloped and just plain annoying! i couldn't believe the mother could just let her daughter do as she pleased, and how she would manipulate her mother and the mother was TOO blind to see it. the main character(s) in the film talks all together for about 5 minutes! It wasn't even scary, you could tell instantly that this sorry excuse for a movie was just a rip off of the very popular movies 'Child's Play' and 'The Exorcist'! to the people who think they'd like this film...YOU'RE WRONG!TRUST ME!! i give this crap 1/10

This was one of those bad movies that had some good effects, but wasn't really scary, except to maybe a five year old.

The acting was good, but, the characters were annoying, and very stereotyped.

The life of the show was the terrific appearance of Rip Torn. He always seems to enjoy his work, and he has that kind of sarcastic side about him that you can chuckle at and not feel bad about it.

So good scares for the young or the faint-at-heart. Otherwise, just a standard possessed-doll-raising-hell-type movie.

Think of it as the Mexican feminization of "Child's Play". This movie has an incredibly slow start, but is a good watch for fans of movies like the "Child's Play" series, "Dolls", the "Puppet Master" series, and any other movie where dolls can walk and talk. "Dolly Dearest" is your typical, satanically possessed inanimate object movie, containing such well-known actors like Candy Hutson (some of the "Land Before Time" movies), Chris DemetraI ("Somethimes They Come Back") and Denise Crosby ("Pet Sematary"), and comedic favorite Rip Torn. Set against the beautiful background of Mexico, much of the plot of this movie was involved with an ancient black magic curse associated with a pre-Mayan civilization.

It takes nearly a half hour before the movie really starts to get juicy, but once it does, you can't take your eyes off the screen for a second, or you miss something important. Dolly is a terrifying creature, with a tiny, tinny laugh that makes the viewer want to crack up. If you're expecting intelligence and deep meaning to a film, this isn't the horror film for you, but it's an excellent slasher pic. It's not too bad, since there's only a small amount of gore (about the same amount you'll find on a TV movie) and absolutely no nudity, but the satanic overtones may have many viewers picking another movie.

The little girl in the movie, Jessie Wade (Hutson), is written excellently, both as an exuberant young child, and as a slightly satanically possessed creature. Her brother Jimmy (Demetral) is also equally well-written. Where the movie falls short, however, is in the characterization of the mother. Denise Crosby is wasted in the role of this paranoid, semi-psychotic mother who is convinced from the start that her daughter is abnormally obsessed with Dolly (a correct assumption, but a little odd), yet doesn't even notice when her daughter's personality completely changes and she starts acting like an automaton. And never mind that no one notices the few dozen satanically possessed dolls wandering around.

On a scale of one to ten, this movie rates about a six and a half. The storyline behind the movie is mediocre, but the walking and talking dolls make up for it. The young boy is obviously the smartest of the entire lot, something that is typical of horror movies with children. It has the standard horrible ancient curse, but almost any movie regarding satanism or Central America does. I'd recommend it to anyone who's a fan of cult movies or cheezy horror films, in particular "Child's Play" (the first one) and "The Lightning Incident" (with Nancy McKeon), which are both extremely similar.