Horror movies about dolls are alluring, because some dolls, especially antiquated looking ones like in this movie, are creepy; their quiet poise is unsettling. They are problematic, though, because they are so little that it would be extremely possible for someone to escape from them, even from a swarm of them. Most doll movies further remove the horror by making the little playthings real wisenheimers, cracking quips, or killing for fun ala CHILD'S PLAY and THE PUPPET MASTER. Stuart Gordon's DOLLS is probably the best of the genre, because the dolls are innocent; they kill because they are mad or threatened.
The film opens vibrantly with the little girl, Judy, hallucinating a real bear bursting from the seams of her teddy bear, and eating her father and wicked stepmother. The family gets stranded in the boonies and seeks refuge in an old house owned by dollmakers (the wife is Hilary Mason, the blind sister in DON'T LOOK NOW). They are joined by similarly stranded, lovable Ralph, and the punk-grrrl hitchhikers he picked up. The girls are so obnoxious, and Judy's abusive parents are so despicable, as they accuse Ralph of being a child molester, that the film gets boring as it focuses on the dolls picking them off one by one.
It becomes enjoyable again once the dolls almost kill Ralph, but then decide that he is "young at heart". Those who aren't so lucky are turned into dolls, and there are some fun human-doll effects. The single location is handled well, and doesn't feel as claustrophobic as spooky old house movies can. This isn't a great movie, but it is cute, almost like it is a horror movie for kids (inappropriate blood and molestation insinuations aside).
The film opens vibrantly with the little girl, Judy, hallucinating a real bear bursting from the seams of her teddy bear, and eating her father and wicked stepmother. The family gets stranded in the boonies and seeks refuge in an old house owned by dollmakers (the wife is Hilary Mason, the blind sister in DON'T LOOK NOW). They are joined by similarly stranded, lovable Ralph, and the punk-grrrl hitchhikers he picked up. The girls are so obnoxious, and Judy's abusive parents are so despicable, as they accuse Ralph of being a child molester, that the film gets boring as it focuses on the dolls picking them off one by one.
It becomes enjoyable again once the dolls almost kill Ralph, but then decide that he is "young at heart". Those who aren't so lucky are turned into dolls, and there are some fun human-doll effects. The single location is handled well, and doesn't feel as claustrophobic as spooky old house movies can. This isn't a great movie, but it is cute, almost like it is a horror movie for kids (inappropriate blood and molestation insinuations aside).