The Doll Master

I went in with absolutely no preconceived or expectations with this movie, and was pleasantly surprised. Obviously a low budget flick but with good effects, settings and concepts. The cast were all pretty good, with chemistry and believable. I especially liked the guy who was letting out the filming location and Norman of course.

The film went in a completely unpredictable direction which was refreshing, my interest was held all the way through.

If you enjoy Indie horror/thriller movies then give it a go. I enjoyed it, and to be honest it's better than a lot of high budget new movies that have come out recently.

Stuck living on his own, a man tries to deal with the growing influence of a talking ventriloquist doll in his collection that's having an adverse effect on his livelihood, only to become convinced the continuous nightmares he's facing are the result of demonic forces controlling the doll.

Overall, this was a decidedly enjoyable indie effort. One of the finer features here is the strong setup that provides a strong psychological bent on a somewhat traditional killer doll effort. The first half manages to bring about a rather intriguing tale on the nature of the doll on the owner which starts to indulge in the usual form of trickery involving haunted ventriloquist dolls where it constantly berates and insults the owner while also being the only one to understand who he is to impact the loneliness he feels even further. This all helps to bring about a sense of pathos and pity for him, the more they interact with the hinted-at realization that the doll and other mannequins around the house are alive and helping to torment the mentally-unstable owner for their amusement, factors helped along by the middle half when the camera crew arrives and the film turns into a found-footage-style exploration of the haunted tunnels he uses to help ease himself away from the doll's influence. The initial backstory of the area and how it manages to be incorporated into the storyline about the missing doll is rather fun and handled rather nicely, which turns the later half into a nice bit of supernatural hauntings. Getting plenty of usage out of the dark, decrepit underground tunnels that they're shooting in, the mix of psychological hallucinations involving the spirit of his mother coming to him to continue hoarding his troubled past over him or the secondary physical manifestations of the mannequins coming to life to enact the troubled history of the doll and why it's persisting create some solid imagery and action throughout here which make the film pretty enjoyable. There are some missteps here that hold it back. Most of this is due to the overly talkative first half that aims for the psychological ruminations and backstory of the owner without actually doing anything to impart a dark and twisted storyline. With everything here feeling as those there's a lot of nothing happening watching him interact with the doll growing progressively crazier over time with the cliched notions of the doll lording over his human companion to the point of outright insulting him, it makes for a somewhat underwhelming start to everything with this type of starting point. As well, with the whole thing dripping in the kind of low-budget limitations usually associated with the genre, ranging from flimsy effects-work, non-threatening props, and obvious make-up to go along with the one-location setting that highlights what type of film this is from the start and serves to bring this one down.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.

The acting was great in this UK shot psychological thriller, especially Tony Fadil and John Paul Gates' performances. I think Steven M. Smith, the director made a good job of creating an awareness to mental health. The emphasis is much more on character development than special effects. The Doll Master personally reminds me a little of Dead Silence (2007). If you are into cult and horror movies, and if you like a little English black humour you will definitely enjoy The Doll Master.

This film borders the 'it's so bad it's funny' I watched this film initially and it almost gave me an Aneurysm. It was only until I drank a bottle of wine, 4 beers and the support of some of my closest friends was I able to watch 3/4 of it.

The one star is given to the other 1/4 as I'm a sucker for hope.

The film direction was poor, washed out and poorly directed. The script is poor. The representation of mental health is poor.

The acting was generally terrible " you know what I mean".

Acting was generally clunky and apparently mics and sound quality isn't a thing. Thought the acting from Norman, Jonny and the rest of the cast was robotic with little chemistry or physics to this dimensional.

interesting chucky re-make, with good references to mental health issues. I could see it was low budget, but good quality film. Good performances, especially from the sarcastic security guard played by Jon Paul Gates. Nice to see a good all British cast in a good quality low-budget horror movie. I roughly enjoyed watching this movie and suggest others to watch it also.