Os Demônios de 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.

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

In Ireland, the psychiatrist Jane Morton (Carice van Houten) is assigned to give a psychological assessment to the disturbed teenager Dorothy Mills (Jenn Murray) that tried to strangle a baby while babysitting him. After leaving the island ferry, an orange car with three teenagers causes an accident with Jane's car that falls in the sea and miraculously survives. She finds a hostile environment in the island with the unsettled dwellers that seems to be nervous with her presence. Jane seeks out Dorothy in the house of her Aunt Eileen MacMahon that is raising the girl and after a couple of interviews, she discovers that Dorothy has multiple personality disorder, impersonating the three year-old Mimi; and the teenagers Mary, Kurt and Duncan. When Dorothy embodies David, the young son of Jane that drowned in a tragic accident, the grieving psychiatrist also finds that the backward locals are fanatic religious believers and something dark lives in the island.

"Dorothy Mills" is a little gem of the supernatural genre to be discovered by movie lovers that follows the same style of the underrated "Haunted" and "The Innocents" with an engaging and ambiguous ghost story. The debut of Jenn Murray is spectacular and this young unknown actress is stunning performing different characters with her multiple personality disorder. It is impossible to guess her real age and in some moments she looks like an innocent girl and in the other an easy young woman. The point that I liked most is the ambiguity of the dramatic and mysterious plot, where a mourning psychiatrist (therefore with emotional problems) evaluates a disturbed girl in a dysfunctional society. Therefore the truth of the events in the island is never one hundred percent clear since it is narrated by a maladjusted character and consequently open to interpretation. My only remark is the underrated IMDb User Rating (6.0/10 with 1371 votes) since this film truly deserves a better rating. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Os Demônios de Dorothy Mills" ("The Demons of Dorothy Mills")

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.

A young girl Dorothy Mills was accused of trying to kill a baby that she was sitting for.Jane Morton is a psychiatrist who is sent to Dorothy's small Irish island.It is her job to try and understand what happened and to hopefully help Dorothy try and avoid a harsh punishment from the courts for what she had done.Is Dorothy suffering from multiple personality disorder or is she possessed by vengeful spirits?"Dorothy Mills" is highly derivative.It borrows several elements from Robin Hardy's "The Wicker Man" and Herk Harvey's "Carnival of Souls".I must admit that the titular performance of Jenn Murray is extremely believable,unfortunately the film drags quite a bit during its middle section.Still it's worth checking out if you are into subtle ghost stories.The photography of Irish cliffs is stunning too.6 out of 10.