Psycho's Movie Reviews #80: DOLLS (1987)

Dolls is a 1987 American horror film directed by Stuart Gordon, written by Ed Naha, and starring Stephen Lee, Guy Rolfe, Hilary Mason, Ian Patrick Williams, and Bunty Bailey. Its plot follows six people who seek shelter during a storm in the mansion of an elderly puppetmaker and his wife, only to find that the various puppets and dolls in the home contain the imprisoned spirits of criminals. It was produced by Charles Band and Brian Yuzna through Band's Empire Pictures.

The film grossed $3.5 million worldwide against a budget of $2 million.

Plot:

A violent thunderstorm strands young Judy, her father David, and her stepmother Rosemary in the English countryside. Seeking shelter, the trio break into a nearby mansion, where they meet the owners, a kindly older couple named Gabriel and Hilary Hartwicke. Learning that Judy has "lost" her beloved doll Teddy (in fact, the cruel Rosemary threw Teddy into the bushes), Gabriel gives Judy a doll, named Mr. Punch. Three more people arrive at the mansion, also seeking shelter from the storm: Good-natured American businessman Ralph and English hitchhikers Isabel and Enid. Gabriel invites them all to stay the night.

Judy soon discovers that the mansion is full of beautifully detailed toys and dolls like Mr. Punch; Gabriel explains that he is a toy maker. Judy and Ralph are both overjoyed, and the latter is something of a child at heart who has never given up his love and fondness of toys.

Isabel and Enid are actually petty thieves who hitchhiked with Ralph intending to pick his pocket. That night, Isabel sneaks out of her room to rob the mansion. Instead, she is brutally attacked by dolls. Judy, in the hallway, briefly sees the attack and she rushes to tell her father David. However, David is a neglectful and uncaring father; both he and Rosemary accuse Judy of making up stories. Instead, Judy convinces Ralph to check out the hallway with her. Ralph is initially very skeptical, but he eventually believes Judy after her Mr. Punch doll briefly speaks to them.

Rosemary is later attacked by the dolls; in the midst of escaping them, she ends up accidentally overleaping out of a window to her death. Enid searches for Isabel and finds her almost entirely transformed into a doll version of herself. A horde of toys attack and kill Enid as she attempts to escape. Meanwhile, Ralph gets accidentally caught in a trap the dolls set for the other adults before Judy convinces them to save him; because he is her friend and has done nothing wrong. David discovers Rosemary's dead body placed in his bed and believes that Ralph killed her.

Now safe from the dolls, Judy and Ralph enter the workshop where the irate David finds them. Ralph tries to explain that the dolls attacked the others for their actions, but David refuses to listen, knocks both his daughter and Ralph unconscious in his rage. Then, Mr. Punch comes to life and attacks David. Other dolls intervene, dragging the unconscious Ralph and Judy away to safety as Mr. Punch is destroyed by David after a fierce struggle.

The Hartwickes appears and explain that they are magician couples who see toys as the heart and soul of childhood. Gabriel and Hilary dislike the bitterness of adults, and when people seek shelter at their mansion, the dolls serve as a test for the visitors. People like Ralph, who appreciate the joy of childhood, and children like Judy are spared and leave the house with a fuller appreciation of life. However, those who refuse to change their ways, like David, Rosemary, Enid, and Isabel, can never leave and have to start all over and play a new role in the big game as toys forever. As the Hartwickes explain this, the incredulous, yet threatening David is slowly transformed into a doll to replace Mr. Punch.

The next morning, the Hartwickes convince the reawakened Ralph and Judy that the night's events were just a dream. Gabriel reads a fake letter from David explaining to Judy that he and Rosemary are changing their names and leaving the country with Enid and Isabel. Judy will be able to stay permanently with her caring mother in Boston and that "David" has left Judy and Ralph enough money to buy plane tickets to Boston. Ralph and Judy leave the house, and as they drive away, Judy hints to him that if he would like to stay with her and her mother, he could be Judy's new father. Ralph seems interested in the idea.

The film ends with dolls of David, Rosemary, Enid, and Isabel sitting on a shelf while outside another car with a set of obnoxious parents gets stuck in mud near the mansion.

Legacy:

Stuart Gordon was, at one point, interested in directing a sequel to this film. The initial story would have followed Judy and Ralph back to Boston in which Ralph would have married Judy's mother and they would become a family. One day Judy would receive a box sent from England that contained the toy makers, Gabriel and Hilary, as dolls. The sequel never happened.

Release/Reception/Box Office:

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 62%, based on reviews from 13 critics. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 55%, based on reviews from five critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Ain't It Cool News reviewed the DVD, calling it "a movie that really stands above the type of film you might expect from this era, with this subject matter." Roger Ebert's review of the film was mostly negative, writing "At some point Dolls remains only an idea, a concept. It doesn't become an engine to shock and involve us," but he conceded that the film "looks good" and "the haunted house looks magnificent. HorrorNews.net's Jeff Colebank listed the toymaking couple as one of the 13 Best Horror Movie Couples, stating that Rolfe was "the creepiest toymaker of them all". Allmovie's review of the film was mildly favourable, calling it "a serious-minded, lovingly-crafted modern fairy tale that only misses classic status by a few clumsy, low-budget moments."

Dolls was released to DVD by MGM Home Entertainment on September 20, 2005, as a Region 1 widescreen DVD and by the Scream Factory division of Shout! Factory (under license from MGM) on November 11, 2014, as a Region A widescreen Blu-ray.

Budget: $2 million

Box office: $3.5 million

My Review:

A VHS staple turned faded poster in my childhood bedroom, I’ve seen Dolls a good 20+ times over the years... and despite not revisiting it as often these days, my admiration for it hasn't waivered at all... especially since it introduced young me to creepy doll movies as well as the world’s of director Stuart Gordon and producers Brian Yuzna and Charles Band (and Band’s Empire Pictures).

I always thought of Dolls as Stuart Gordon’s The Old Dark House—this creepy little fairy tale is a super fun ‘dark and stormy night of the living dolls’ jam about a group of people stranded at a mansion during a storm discovering two magical toy makers and their haunted collection of dolls is ripe with the kind of atmosphere that I love... this whole thing is VERY much my kind of thing. Standouts being Guy Rolfe, Stephen Lee (he’s beyond lovable in this), Carolyn Purdy Gordon, Punch the doll, great gore and effects from John Carl Buechler, and some legit funny comedic tones that actually make the movie for me!

I think I may prefer this over all of the Puppetmaster movies but I dunno, that’s a tough call. One thing I am certain about though—that giant killer teddy bear death dream fucking rules!

Now this is how you make a goddamn movie about bitchy, petty killer dolls! Charli B may be a total garbage person, but the man knows how to do his killer dolls/puppets/toys movies and I do love him for that and pretty much that only.

This is a refreshing 77 minutes and that alone is enough for me to love it, but it’s also got a creepy mansion on a dark and stormy night setting, great doll effects, and plenty of gore. Also, I seriously love Carolyn Purdy-Gordon’s bitchy stepmother with the towel wrapped around her head even more than I love the name “Carolyn Purdy-Gordon” {and I love that name a lot}.

{Also, the woman from the 'Take On Me' - A-ha! music video is in this, she's one of the two hitch hiking bitches; one of them two}.

Remarkably rich homage to the 'Grimm' roots of the European Gothic genre that bridges the Germanic literary tradition and the contemporary (1980's) cinematic comedic/gore tradition under the sure and savvy hand of Stuart Gordon ("Re-animator," "From Beyond"). That rare film that frightens us, repels us, condemns us, while also inspiring & enlightening us. Finally, if you're a grownup who never lost your respect for toys, you'll have a special affinity for this film; 7/10.