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.

THE WRETCHED (2019)

 

(Directors/screenwriters: Brett Pierce and Drew T. Pierce)

Plot: An angry adolescent boy discovers that a thousand-year-old witch is living next door and tries to keep those around him safe.

 

Review

WRETCHED is half of a good movie, setting up what could have been a solid creepy-supernatural-neighbor work, with unsettling atmosphere, palpable (and well-acted) character emotions, and witch-centric-effective storytelling. Unfortunately, the second half is an unfocused mess of missed spooky, tight-tale-telling opportunities. WRETCHED’s leaves-room-for-a-sequel end-scene is solid, not shocking, but not egregiously bad either. Despite my criticisms of this film, the first half of WRETCHED makes me want to keep an eye on future works of its director-screenwriters, sons of Bart Pierce, who created the visual effects for Sam Raimi’s THE EVIL DEAD (1981).

THE CRIMSON CULT (1968)

 

(a.k.a. CURSE OF THE CRIMSON ALTAR. Director: Vernon Sewell. Screenwriters: Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln, based on Jerry Sohl’s story, loosely extrapolated from H.P. Lovecraft’s story “Dreams in the Witch House.”)

 

Review

Antiques dealer Robert Manning (Mark Eden) visits his family’s English ancestral home of Greymarsh when his brother, Peter (Denys Peek), disappears during a business trip. Peter’s last known location is Craxted Lodge.

Once Robert arrives, he is warmly greeted by Craxted’s owner (Morley), a descendant of Lavinia Morley (a green-skinned Barbara Steele) who was burned at the stake in 1652. Also in residence is Eve Morley (Virginia Wetherell, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, 1971), Morley’s niece, who becomes Robert’s romantic interest and fellow investigator. A cryptic local historian of the occult (Professor John Marsh) also visits Craxted; he is barely civil to Robert.

Robert’s questions get the run-around treatment, so he further investigates, at night having kaleidoscopic nightmares about a green- and red-lit room, and half-naked servants (men and women) who hold goats and writhe around Lavinia, sitting on her throne.

Eventually, all becomes clear with help from surprising quarters, ending in a visually fun (cheesy for some) end-shot.

CRIMSON, is a mostly bland, silly admixture of a straightlaced murder mystery and pseudo-psychedelic hippie-ish Lovecraftian nightmare, with its filler party scenes, a sex scene, and overlong, investigative-dream sequences. By the time Robert has figured out what happened to his brother and why, it’s a great, is this movie done yet? situation. CRIMSON’s behind-the-scenes crew made a good-looking movie, made darker with Peter Knight’s spare, effective music score.

Beyond the seething and sensual Barbara Steele (PIRANHA, 1978), a big part of what CRIMSON gets right is its top-billed leads: Christopher Lee (SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN, 1970) as the polite Morley, who is hiding something; Boris Karloff (BLACK SABBATH, 1963), in one of his final roles, as Professor John Marsh, whose brusque manners hide something as well; Michael Gough (DR. TERROR’S HOUSE OF HORRORS, 1965) as Elder, the Morleys’ troubled butler; and Rupert Davies (DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE, 1968) as “The Vicar.”

CRIMSON, with its not-quite-psychedelic trial scenes, solid behind-the-scenes work and worthwhile actors, is a “meh”movie, not terrible, not great─and worth seeing if you’re a completist fan of any of its leads, as long as you expect CRIMSON to be one of their lesser flicks.

THE CALL (2020)

 

(Director: Timothy Woodward Jr. Screenwriter: Patrick Stibbs.)

Storyline

October 1987. After the woman they’ve been prank-terrorizing commits suicide, they inherit her money. When they come to claim it, her husband tells her they’ll get it immediately─but first each of them must make a phone call.

 

Review

CALL is an initially solid, interesting story that melds Leigh Whannell and James Wan’s SAW (2004) and Wes Craven’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984) within a 1980s, EC Comics-style revenge tale.

The first third of the film is solid and entertaining, with a strong set-up and fresh elements (kids inheriting a witch’s wealth). It is bolstered by tight editing, a concise screenplay and a synth-driven soundtrack (courtesy of Samuel Joseph Smythe) that recalls the work of John Carpenter. One of the elements that elevates CALL from being a waste of time is its excellent players: the key actors, especially horror veterans Lin Shaye (DEAD END, 2003) and Tobin Bell (the SAW franchise), keep CALL semi-interesting even as the storyline devolves into visually solid but not particularly scary genre tropes, with CALL becoming a series of ELM STREET-esque, surreal mindfrak scenarios, customized terror-mazes for the teenagers. All the while, Edith’s angry-but-restrained husband (Edward, played by Bell) lurks elsewhere in the house. Bell, like Shaye, is especially fun and scary in his role, channeling the dangerous, soft-spoken undertones of his iconic Jigsaw character, mixed with the sorrow of a grieving spouse.

CALL is not a bad movie, it’s just disappointing. It has so much going for it: good overall filmmaking (with the feel and editing of a waste-no-time-or-footage 1980s video gem); great acting by its principal actors; a memorable storyline (in its first third). What brings it down is its too-familiar head-trip hell-mazes (thoroughly strip-mined of its scary veins by the ELM STREET franchise) and its ending, which─even with its twists─makes the prankster’s punishment feel too fated, almost pointless.

You might enjoy this if you keep your expectations low. If you’re a fan of Shaye and Bell, who consistently shine in their work, this might also be worthwhile. Not only that, CALL‘s filmmakers’ impressive capabilities and love for 1980s video B-movies imbues the film with a nostalgic feel even when its fright-cliched events make it less-than-viewer-involving.

SUMMER OF FEAR (1978)

 

(a.k.a. STRANGER IN OUR HOUSE; director: Wes Craven. Teleplay by Glenn M. Benest and Max A. Keller, based on Lois Duncan’s 1976 YA novel Summer of Fear.)

Review

When a California family, the Bryants, take in a tragedy-struck, teenage relative (Julia Trent) from the Ozarks they have no idea who they’re harboring. Strange things happen, often to Julia’s cousin, adolescent daughter Rachel Bryant, prompting her to suspect something is off with Julia: why is every male within Julia’s range obsessed with the young new arrival’s every whim? Why does Rachel’s horse, Sundance, act spooked, skittish, around Julia, who quickly evolves from wallflower to beauty in record time?

Rachel’s jealousy and suspicions become alarm when she─suddenly sick and nightmare-stalked─finds odd, crudely made objects and marked up photos of herself hidden amongst Julia’s things. Then those who displease Julia begin dying in rapid succession. Is it too late to stop Julia, who is most assuredly a malefic witch?

Based on Lois Duncan’s 1976 young adult novel, Summer of Fear, this made-for-television movie─then titled STRANGER IN OUR HOUSE in the US─originally aired on NBC on October 31, 1978. (In Europe, it was released theatrically under the title SUMMER OF FEAR.)

As television works go, this is a mostly solid, predictable PG-13 flick (back then it would’ve warranted a PG rating). Wes Craven (THE HILLS HAVE EYES, 1977) helmed this bloodless, often brightly lit movie, with the rest of his cast and crew matching Craven in their competence. I write “mostly solid” because of occasionally clunky dialogue and Plot Convenient Stupidity (PCS) that makes up some of the dialogue and actions of certain characters (e.g., Rachel bluntly confronts Julia, broadcasting how she intends to stop Julia’s dark magick, further endangering Rachel and those she loves).

Fortunately, these are minor nits, given the talent involved in the project, contributors like John D’Andrea and Michael Lloyd (DEVIL’S DEN, 2006), whose spooky soundtrack is impressive for its medium.

Just as impressive is SUMMER’s cast. Linda Blair (THE EXORCIST, 1973) is her usual excellent self as Rachel Bryant. Jeff East (PUMPKINHEAD, 1988) played her brother, Peter, and Jeremy Slate (THE DEAD PIT, 1989) played Tom, her father. Fran Drescher (HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA, 2012) played Carolyn Baker, Rachel’s best friend.

Lee Purcell (NECROMANCY, 1972) played Julia Trent. John Steadman (THE HILLS HAVE EYES, 1977) played a “Veterinarian.”

SUMMER is an entertaining work if you don’t expect much and can overlook its sometimes-clunky writing and PCS-character moments.