Dorothy

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.

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

Sorry to disagree with some remarks of this movie being slow(?). I liked the pace of it and it gave you time to really understand the different characters and their secrets and lies. it added much needed depth to the story, something that is lacking in many Hollywood films.

I found that the film was always interesting, mysterious and in some scenes quite chilling. It is, by far one of the most refreshing films of the year. The acting was superb.

Another criticism that I found was uncalled for was the nit picking about the Dutch actress Carise's accent. Did you not notice her character's surname it's actually Dutch (Doh!)she is meant to have lived in Ireland for a while and therefore picked up the Irish accent I live in Glasgow,Scotland and in my city there are hundreds that have come to work in here from various cities of Europe and other parts of the world and there is one I know who is a German psychiatrist who has picked up a slight accent from staying here for a few years.

If you want to nit pick what about big Terminator Arnie's accent - it never changed in all his movies, how do you explain a German accented robot from the future?... Given that Carise's first language is Dutch I really admired that she managed to get the accent at all.

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")