Dorothy Mills

Although writer/director Agnès Merlet resorted to too many clichés at times, Dorothy Mills does deserve credit for not taking the Hollywood road of botching the conclusion with special effects or nonsensical action scenes.

The movie has a solid pacing and takes the time to acclimate us with its characters. Unfortunately, most of them are terribly uninteresting and look like they were inspired by similar movies.

There are two glowing exceptions: psychiatrist Jane Van Dopp and our title character: the young and troubled Dorthy Mills. Dutch actress Carice Van Houten (The Black Book, Valkyrie) has a lot of presence on screen and manages to showcase all the emotions the doctor goes through, without overacting. The script still doesn't really do the actress justice but she does relatively well, despite not being completely at ease with English.

Without a doubt the most pleasant surprise of the whole movie will be the performance of newcomer Jenn Murray as Dorothy. Knowing that this movie was small budget and comparing her performance with the rest of the cast, one can only be amazed by her raw talent and presence. The role of Dorothy is incredibly challenging and it would have been easy for the movie to become unintentionally funny had the actress playing Dorothy been only average. But on the contrary, Jenn Murray elevates the movie by at least a point or two.

The story is slightly conventional. A nice twist at the end has a good effect to it but feels kind of forced. Some dramatic scenes barely work. More than anything else, the plot is almost ruined by not letting Dorothy be the sole vehicle of the strange happenings on the island.

But this is still a cool mystery movie with an awesome performance by Murray, whom I look forward to seeing in many more films.

DOROTHY MILLS has a wonderfully gloomy atmosphere of dread throughout its running time. This enhances the story, which centers around the relationship between the title character (Jenn Murray), and Dr. Jane Van Dopp (Carice van Houten), a psychiatrist who tries to help the girl.

At first, it appears that Dorothy is a troubled child suffering from purely psychological issues. However, as time goes on, Jane begins to realize that something else could be happening. Something supernatural that may reveal secrets that have been concealed by those around her.

Both Ms.' van Houten and Murray are absolutely convincing in their pivotal roles. As the truth is slowly revealed, we see the trauma that both have experienced bubbling to the surface.

This is a film that relies on great acting and dialogue, along with the aforementioned sense of darkness, rather than overt shocks. Due to this, it's a superior horror film for those who prefer creeping fear over jump scares...

Overall not a terrible film, but not worthy of the high ratings some gave it. Carice van Houten acting was horrid to say the least and why did they cast her in the role with that Dutch accent is beyond me, the actress that acted Dorothy's role was way better. I gave the story a 6 but the overall score was dragged down by the flat as a Dutch pancake acting performance from Carice van Houten, and that's coming from me that was born in Holland.

5 out of 10

a solid and fresh story with great actings especially the 2 main leads.

2 surprising twists, one around the middle when you realize what is happening to dorothy and one in the end which explains it all, what makes it great is you do not see this coming, well at least i didn't.

remember that crappy movie with nicolas cage about a crazed community on an island ? well this is not at all like that altho i thought it would be when i read the synopsis.

so if you think you know the story because it involves a closed community living on an island with the main lead being an outsider, think again.

there are many crappy movie in the genre, this is not one of them.

as a bonus the psychiatrist is very easy on the eye ;)

It bothers me when movies are mis-marketed. I understand why they do it but it's misleading and annoying. Many movies that don't quite fit a genre are shoehorned into one.

As was the case with 'The Hole', 'Dorothy Mills' is more of a psychological thriller marketed as pure horror. The quote on the cover, "A contemporary take on the Exorcist", the tag line 'Evil chose her" and the typical horror imagery would have one renting this with hopes of hiding behind a cushion from a pea soup vomiting demon. Probably achieves more rentals/purchases but it also inevitably disappoints many, but not in my case.

In reality this is not really about 'evil'. It's a chilling and intriguing tale that deals with the multiple personalities of a girl called Dorothy Mills and/or the dead speaking through her. Set in Ireland, Dublin based psychiatrist Jane Van Dopp travels to a small island where the troubled girl lives. Whilst working on the case she begins to suspect the multiple personalities are more than just figments of Dorothy's imagination.

It's not entirely original but a very interesting plot regardless. The strongest aspect of the movie is Dorothy's various characters: the transformations being startling! Furthermore,Jenn Murray, the actress who plays them, is absolutely brilliant and it's difficult to believe this is her first role.

I feel this movie is deserving of some decent exposure; I'm just not sure misleading marketing is the right way to go about it.