DOLLS (1986)

 

(Director: Stuart Gordon. Screenwriter: Ed Naha.)

Review

Two groups of pothole- and mud-stuck travelers, caught in a sudden, violent storm, seek overnight shelter in the old, spooky, and curiously charming house of Hilary and Gabriel Hardwicke, a canny elderly couple who make porcelain dolls, and might be witches.

The first group of travelers is made up of spouse-whipped David Bower (Ian Patrick Williams, RE-ANIMATOR, 1985), his rich, unpleasant wife (Rosemary, played with thorny perfection by Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, RE-ANIMATOR, 1985) and David’s charming, imaginative pre-tween daughter, Judy, who’s consistently, openly abused by her father and stepmother.

Second group of travelers: a sweet-natured businessman, Ralph Morris (Stephen Lee, THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM, 1991), and Enid (Cassie Stuart, SLAYGROUND, 1983) and Isabelle Prange (Bunt Bailey, SPELLCASTER, 1988), the latter two petty-thief hitchhikers intending to prey upon Ralph and the Hardwickes.

When post-bedtime, theft-minded Enid sneaks off to check out one of the rooms with antiques (which she pronounces as “ant-i-cues”), the underlying dark tensions between key characters explode into a cycle of gore-restrained, darkly humorous poppet vengeance.

Released stateside on May 29, 1987, this low budget, tautly scripted and edited hour-and-seventeen-minute cinematic morality play evokes, on all levels, its fairy tale/innocence-and-darkness influences. Everything works, from its sketched-out characterizations to its visual effects (courtesy of a team of FX artists, including John Carl Buechler [NECRONOMICON: BOOK OF THE DEAD, 1993], and stop-motion effects artist David Allen [THE HOWLING, 1981]). Its dreamlike cinematography (thank you, Mac Ahlberg, RE-ANIMATOR, 1985) helps accomplish this as well.

 

DOLL’s other, fun-as-their-co-stars players include:

Carrie Lorraine (POLTERGEIST II: THE OTHER SIDE, 1986) as Judy, David Bowers’s charming, imaginative pre-tween daughter;

Guy Rolfe (PUPPET MASTER III: TOULON’S REVENGE, 1991) as Gabriel Hartwicke, child- and magic-appreciative dollmaker, witch, and husband to Hilary;

and

Hilary Mason (DON’T LOOK NOW, 1973) as Hilary Hartwicke, Gabriel’s equally canny wife and fellow witch.

 

If you’re looking for an above-average, modest, low budget and gore-restrained fairy tale with a happy finish, DOLLS might be your hour-plus thrill source.

 

Deep(er) filmic dive

According to Wikipedia: Ed Naha’s screenplay was sparked by Bruno Bettelheim’s well-regarded 1976 nonfiction book The Uses of Magic. Director Stuart Gordon considered the film a modern take on the Grim Brothers’ 1812 fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel” (aka “Little Stepbrother and Little Stepsister”).

Among Ed Naha’s other screenwriting/film-story work: TROLL (1986).

According to IMDb: DOLLS was “shot before” and “on the same sets” as FROM BEYOND (1986) but was “released almost a year after [FROM BEYOND] due to all the doll effects in post-production”.

Also according to IMDb: Stuart Gordon’s wife (Carolyn Purdy-Gordon) and children (as well as friends of the Gordons) provided the whispering of the dolls.

Enid’s lack of a surname and over-the-top outfit mirrors that of “Material Girl”-era Madonna.

Also according to IMDb: actress Bailey Bunty, Isabel in DOLLS, appeared as the main girl in a-ha’s [1984] pop music video “Take On Me”

Also according to Wikipedia: a DOLLS sequel was considered, Stuart Gordon again directing. Its plot: Ralph and young Judy (from the first film) are now a happy Boston-based family after his marriage to Judy’s mother. Judy gets a package in the mail from England, containing doll versions of Hilary and Gabriel Hardwicke, the witches the first film. Plans for this follow-up movie ended before production resulted.