Dolls (1987)

A group of people stop by a mansion during a storm and discover two magical toy makers, and their haunted collection of dolls.

Director:

Stuart Gordon

Writer:

Ed Naha

Stars:

Ian Patrick Williams, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Carrie Lorraine

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Ian Patrick Williams	...	David Bower
Carolyn Purdy-Gordon	...	Rosemary Bower
Carrie Lorraine	...	Judy Bower
Guy Rolfe	...	Gabriel Hartwicke
Hilary Mason	...	Hilary Hartwicke
Bunty Bailey	...	Isabel Prange
Cassie Stuart	...	Enid
Stephen Lee	...	Ralph Morris

Storyline

A group of travelers spend the night in the mansion of an elderly couple who are dollmakers. However, one of the travelers' children discovers that the dolls the couple makes are actually humans that the couple has miniaturized and turned into tools for their evil plans.

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Plot Keywords:

doll | storm | toy maker | toy | lifting female in air | 

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Taglines:

They walk. They talk. They kill.

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Genres:

Fantasy | Horror

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

September 1987 (Mexico)

Also Known As:

The Doll

Filming Locations:

Empire Studios, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Empire Pictures, Taryn Productions Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

77 min

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was actually shot before Stuart Gordon's next film, From Beyond, and was shot on the same sets, but released almost a year afterwards due to all the doll effects in post-production.

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Goofs

As Isabel is getting rammed against the floorboard headfirst, the amount of blood splatter on the wall does not match the blood on her face, and in the opposing shots the floorboard is clean. When she lays face down in the hallway, following, there is an ominous pool of blood about her head. As she raises her head, disheveled, some of the blood amount disappears.

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Quotes

David Bower: Fuck you, clowny!

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Crazy Credits

Special thanks: Bruno Bettelheim (as Bruno Bettleheim) and Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm (as The Brothers Grimm).

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Connections

Featured in Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film (2009)

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Soundtracks

"I'm in the Mood for Love"
Music by Jimmy McHugh
Lyrics by Dorothy Fields
Whistled by Ian Patrick Williams

User Reviews

Excellent prequel to the Puppetmaster series

Brian Yuzna and Stuart Gordon once again made a low budget masterpiece with Dolls. It was released by Empire which was Charles Band's film company before the Full Moon days.

The casting of the film is perfect, all of the actors really did a fantastic job and it shows in their performances. Guy Rolfe as Gabriel turns in an especially noteworthy acting job, who also went on to play Andre Toulon in the later Puppetmaster series.

The Doll effects are mid-1980's, so they're not going to look like CGI effects these days. I think the effects are very good however and hold a certain magic of their own...perhaps since David Allen did most of the work, and later went on to the Puppetmaster series of films. The people who will say "this film sucks" are those who expect CGI quality in all old films, or expect all enjoyable films to cost 100 million to produce.

The Mansion in which most of the film takes place is particularly magical looking on film. It reminds me much of a large older house i spent my early childhood in.

To those interested there is a DVD version of Dolls out. It is an official licensed version from Hong Kong. The good thing is that it can play on any Region 1 players! The picture and sound quality are quite good and it has optional subtitles which you can turn off.

I just wish they still made lighter edged horror films as good as this, with a well written plot, good characters, creepy musical score, etc...