Dolly Dearest Review – Dave of the Dead

We decided to take a trip down memory lane to the early 1990’s. Im sure you remember the Childs Play movies about a homicidal doll. Well before he had adventures at military camp and then got married Chucky was actually pretty scary. Still, I dont see the reason Hollywood decided to run with the whole demonic doll idea.

Dolly Dearest sounds great on paper. Seriously. If I told you we were going to watch a movie about an ancient evil spirit, set it in Mexico, threw in some archeology and a demon goat baby, would you not be intrigued? Of course you would be. Somehow they still managed to fuck it all up. They even had Rip Torn in the mix! How the hell did this go so wrong?

I dont even know where to begin. None of the plot really made sense. Were just told that an American family moves to Mexico so that the father can buy an abandoned doll factory and then his daughters doll becomes infected by an evil spirit. I cant even give you a favorite kill because the doll doesnt really even kill anybody. Halfway through there are now multiple evil dolls with no explanation as to why! The movie ends when they blow up the doll factory, but are we supposed to believe that the evil is now purged? How would that help anything! This was just plain bad, and not in the good way.

1/5 Malibu Stacy dolls

Mamos Review: Dolly Dearest

What I learned from this movie:

Ancient evil spirits like to hang out in giant doll houses.

Review:

This movie was all about missed potential. Ancient evil spirit and an unearthed tomb? check. Very creepy looking doll that is turning someone’s daughter to a bad guy? check. Not just one evil doll, but many of the same doll running around causing trouble? check.

This all sounds like a recipe for a good scary movie, or at least a comically bad and entertaining scary movie, but sadly neither of these is the case. The movie feels like it is constantly building up to something, but it never gets there.  By the end of the movie nothing has really happened. Only two people have been killed by the dolls! These are supposed to be evil ancient spirits, but they would rather play hide and seek in a warehouse and look creepy then do anything really evil. I guess the evil industry has grown by leaps and bounds while these spirits were locked up and they just need to relearn the trade.

Best Monster Kill: None. Only two people die in this one and both the deaths were not very impressive. One person dies from a sewing machine getting him in the hand. That doesn’t even make sense.

Best Scene:

My favorite scene is definitely in the climax of the movie where the dolls and the man characters (including a young Rip Torn) face off in the warehouse. It is very confusing with people throwing dynamite all over and the dolls trying to put them out. You have to see it to truely try and understand what is going on, and even then, it is very confusing. You think the heroes would blow themselves up, also being in the warehouse, but they survive, and get a classic run out of the place while it blows up in the background scene.

Rating:

I was expecting a lot from a B-movie from the 90s, a decade full of amazing bad movies. This one greatly disappointed.

0/5 Happy Mamos’

 

Dolly Dearest

 

The holidays are over and its back to work. This week we are reviewing the movie Dolly Dearest. A classic from the ancient time known as the 90s. This movies brings us a lot of nastagia for flannel shirts, tape players, and dolls that murder people.

 

“If Chucky from Child’s Play weren’t already taken, he just might go for this demonic she-devil. Infused with the energy of an ancient black-magic cult, an otherwise normal plaything begins affecting her surroundings with a series of horrible “accidents.” But the little girl (Candy Hutson) who loves her refuses to believe her dolly has been bad. Rip Torn co-stars as an archaeologist who unearths the toy’s dirty little secret.”