Dolls

Nice and slightly scary horror, if you want a movie with creepy dolls but not a total gore fest this might just be the thing, the actors were pretty good, I enjoyed it.

This movie is a mess. The dialog in many parts is forced and unrealistic. Every scene feels like it was committed after a single take - good or bad it doesn't matter - if it got shot it's in the film. And here's a tip should this crew ever decide to take on another film project. You can actually use one location for interior shots, and another for all exterior facing shots. Truly, it can be done. There is no need to have dialog drowned out by passing traffic during what should have been important scenes. It's hard to get caught in the drama of the scene when you have countless cars and commercial trucks rushing by right outside the front door. Geez. What a total mess.

This is a fairly enjoyable, restrained horror story which employs a very creepy, well thought-out reason for the little figures and their violent tendencies. It also features a range of characters who remain pretty unlikeable throughout. It should be said though, that the daughter Sammey's sassy attitude is genuinely hilarious at times, and Trinity Simpson's delivery completely sells it. Precocious and potty-mouthed she might be, but she frequently raises a smile.

Dolls are notoriously difficult to make frightening, especially on a low budget. I do feel the scares are too infrequent, but they do occasionally pack a punch. My score is 7 out of 10.

I know horror movies don't usually feature characters that are too bright, but you hope the characters are written as reasonably intelligent, or at least lucid enough to function in every day society. Not so much here. The writer of this movie seems to automatically conflate mental illness and addiction problems with being totally stupid. The characters just sort of stumble through the film as if it's their first day home from their most recent lobotomy. The lead actor, Tom Downey, must be someone's uncle, because no one in their right mind would cast this guy in a film because of his acting ability. The sad thing here is that with a couple minor changes in both the script and cast, the movie could have been very good.

The cover looked very cool and freaky and the idea was a pretty decent one. Dee Wallace is a more than capable actress who keeps landing in mediocre or worse projects that she is better than. The idea was not an original one but the potential for it to work was there, because with the right resources 'Dolls' could have been agreeably creepy. Have made it clear in the past that there is appreciation for and not bias against the horror genre.

'Dolls' just fails to deliver. Wallace and an eerie setting keep it from being something without redeeming features, other than that it is a mess. It is the complete opposite of what the cover promised, being dull and cheap rather than freaky and any coolness is restricted solely to the cover. There is just very little to the film in atmosphere or in how the content is executed, instead of at least decent execution of an unoriginal but still intriguing idea, 'Dolls' is just so routine and with little momentum.

Wallace and the setting are the only good things.

Everything else in 'Dolls' however is a mess. There is nothing remotely unsettling about the dolls, the only scary thing about them is their lack of expression and they are used poorly, underused and when featured they don't really do much if anything. Didn't really get much horror, both in that there is too little of it and what there is is executed with no suspense or even with much effort or attempt to do anything fresh (very seen it all before). The far too thin story, which felt like a thinly plotted short film stretched with a lot of padding and non-stop sluggishness to feature film, and deadeningly dull pace drag 'Dolls' down significantly. In fact, they single-handedly spoil the film.

Furthermore, the script sounds very tired and cheesy, a big problem when there is far too much dialogue that makes many scenes drag, and the characters are both bland and annoying, motivations being poorly explored or not ringing true (both even). Other than Wallace, the cast fail to do anything with what they are given and seem stifled.

All in all, weak. 2/10