The Devil’s Dolls (2016) Film Review

A movie that shows the importance of interpersonal communication.

I am not sure if this movie was meant to be a comedy, because I found it more amusing on that front than any sort of horror. Serial killer has possessed dolls or some shit and a detective must work to save his child. Yep, another cliché-ridden pile of crap.

However, there is an interesting angle to this movie. It seems to be an experiment on the importance of communication. Nearly all of the film’s conflicts could have been avoided by simple communication. Just talking and listening. Seriously, no one listens to anyone in this film. In a way, this is a bizarre movie for that reason—in a different light it could have been an interesting bit of social criticism. It is painful to watch, but also hilarious to see these stupid people interact with each other.

The quality of the film, as in the sets and sound are fine. The scenes are shot with competency, but the acting is terrible. It almost seems intentionally bad. The characters are stock cards come to life and spout exposition and little more.

The creators seem to think that intense music and buckets of blood substitute any narrative heft or real scares. (They also make sure to put children in danger, because reasons). There is an interesting plot here, but it is wasted on empty characters and an oddly sluggish pace for a 90-minute film.

The film is just kind of there while you watch it. It comes off more as an exercise in genre than anything else. Want to watch a cheap gory horror movie? I guess this fits the bill, but it is so baseline in its presentation that there is nothing to really separate it from the hundreds of similar films. It’s a bad horror film, which has sort of become a new genre, but it isn’t worse than the other bad ones. I am not sure if that made sense.
Watching this film probably won’t feel like a horrid waste of time, but it won’t add anything to your life. If you have 90 minutes and want to zone out to something I suppose this will do the trick. Otherwise, not worth the time. 3/10