The Film:
Dolls is a very interesting film in that it has melded fantasy, horror, and comedy with some success. The film revolves around a little girl named Judy (Carrie Lorraine) who, with her father David (Ian Patrick Williams) and her step mother Rosemary (Carolyn Purdy-Gordon), gets stuck in an old mansion for a night after their car gets stuck in the road during a storm. The old mansion is the home of an elderly couple, Gabriel (Guy Rolfe) and Hilary (Hilary Mason). Gabriel is a toymaker and their house is filled with dolls. Eventually Ralph (Stephen Lee) and hitchhikers Isabel (Bunty Bailey) and Enid (Cassie Stuart) also come to the house seeking refuge. As the night begins and bodies begin to pile up it becomes obvious that the dolls that fill up the house are not ordinary play things. It is up to the duo of Judy and the child at heart Ralph to find out just what is going on in the house.
Dolls is very much a classic fairy tale in that it is a morality story about how people should treat each other and the inherent goodness of children. In the film the evil people who are mean, rude, and take advantage of others are killed. While those that are kind and respectful live and are cherished. Also fitting with the fairy tale style that the film employs is the happy ending for the good people of the story. I find it weird that despite a bunch of people being murdered I leave this film with a happy feeling. Almost like everything worked out like it was supposed to. This is were the melding of fairy tale fantasy, horror, and comedy works so well because the ending seems like a happy ending even though these horrific murders took place.
Overall the film is a fun and interesting blend of fantasy, horror, and comedy. It not an amazing film but it is definitely a good film with filled with a lot of charm. I would say that getting rid of some of the blood and gore in the film would give you a fun and scary film for the whole family. Dolls is a big departure from the type of films that Stuart Gordon was making at the time so if you are expecting a splatter fest akin to Re-Animator you will probably be disappointed. However, Dolls is worth watching and is just a different kind of movie. The picture quality on this release is pretty good. There are no problems like compression artifacts, extreme noise reduction, or digital sharpening. The only minor problem is some wear on the elements of this transfer that appear to be from age. Despite this little bit of wear and tear found on the elements used for this transfer, every thing overall looks very good. The colors look really good, with the reds popping like they should and all colors being very accurate looking. The release also sports a natural looking grain field that is visible. Overall pretty good picture quality with very minor problems stemming from age wear from the elements for the transfer.
3.5/5
The Extras:
The Blu-ray Collector's Edition of Dolls comes with a solid amount of extras. The main extras featured on this release are Toys of Terror: The Making Of Dolls and two audio commentaries. The making of feature is another strong making of from Scream Factory that has some great interviews with most of creative individuals from the film and clocks in at around 38 minutes. The Audio Commentary with Director Stuart Gordon and Writer Ed Maha is probably the better of the two in terms of discussing the actual process of making the film. This is definitely the more informative of the two commentaries with this commentary focusing on the writing and shooting process of the film. The Audio Commentary with Cast Members Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Stephen Lee, Carrie Lorraine, and Ian Patrick Williams is a very casual recording with some interesting tidbits here and there about the actors various experiences making the film. Overall the extras for this release are good and provide an interesting background into the process of making this film.
3.5/5
Overall: Strongly Recommended
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