A young beautiful wild woman is about to marry a very rich man somewhere in the islands (Haiti or someplace like that, perhaps?). What messes things up is an arrangement that was made almost at birth. She is supposed to marry a macho guy who has little respect for boundaries. He crashes the wedding an takes her away. The rich guy doesn't take this sitting down. He connects with some kind of voodoo master and gets a doll made. It is sin the image of the reckless man who stole his bride. When he squeezes the doll, the man experiences incredible pain. They bring in a doctor, but there is no medical explanation for it. The young woman, who has grown up in this environment, knows what is going on and comes to the house. From then on, everything gets all confusing and hard to follow. The people we are supposed to sympathize with are so awful that I started pulling for the guy who bought the doll.
7 Reviews
"Can you hear the jungle drum calling to the juju?"
classicsoncall12 June 2017
Warning: Spoilers
The Night Gallery seemed a logical place to host a voodoo story and this one certainly fits the bill. When Sheila Trent (Susan Strasberg) runs out on her wedding ceremony to Alec Brandon (Barry Atwater) in a West Indies setting, the jilted fiancé turns to the black arts to put the screws to her long time lover Raphael (Alejandro Rey). I think we would have gotten the idea even if Sheila didn't remark about those bruises on Raphael's back, stating that they looked like Brandon's fingers. What? Did you observe those marks; they looked like they were made with twelve inch fingers!
Well, the voodoo magic only lasted so long working to Brandon's advantage. He never counted on Sheila taking matters into her own hands by hanging on to his ring from an opening scene. A migraine is one thing, but the way Brandon smashed the voodoo doll into the table even gave me a headache. For a minute there I thought he was going to throw it in the fireplace. Wouldn't that have been something?
Well, the voodoo magic only lasted so long working to Brandon's advantage. He never counted on Sheila taking matters into her own hands by hanging on to his ring from an opening scene. A migraine is one thing, but the way Brandon smashed the voodoo doll into the table even gave me a headache. For a minute there I thought he was going to throw it in the fireplace. Wouldn't that have been something?
A so-so tale of voodoo and revenge.
Hey_Sweden13 November 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Set in the West Indies, 'The Doll of Death' is scripted by Jack Guss from a story by Vivian Meik. The lovely Susan Strasberg ("Bloody Birthday") plays the young Sheila, who is engaged to older man Brandon (Barry Atwater, 'The Night Stalker') but still runs off with her lover Raphael (Alejandro Rey, "TerrorVision"). Unfortunately for Raphael, Brandon has learned all about voodoo practices, and proceeds to get his revenge on the younger man.
Given that this has decent direction by John Badham ("Saturday Night Fever", "Dracula" '79), good atmosphere, a typically fine score by in-house composer Eddie Sauter, and a capable cast also including Murray Matheson ("Twilight Zone: The Movie"), Jean Durand ("The House on Skull Mountain"), and Henry Brandon ("Assault on Precinct 13" '76), 'The Doll of Death' just doesn't add up to much. It's a pretty routine story where nothing unexpected happens. In fact, the protagonists don't seem to really *do* much to alter the course of events - and yet, the "twist" ending occurs anyway. I would agree that the main characters are not exactly sympathetic, so the idea of who to root for will likely be confusing for a number of viewers.
I would dare say that practically everyone here was just going through the motions with this particular episode, anyway.
Six out of 10.
Given that this has decent direction by John Badham ("Saturday Night Fever", "Dracula" '79), good atmosphere, a typically fine score by in-house composer Eddie Sauter, and a capable cast also including Murray Matheson ("Twilight Zone: The Movie"), Jean Durand ("The House on Skull Mountain"), and Henry Brandon ("Assault on Precinct 13" '76), 'The Doll of Death' just doesn't add up to much. It's a pretty routine story where nothing unexpected happens. In fact, the protagonists don't seem to really *do* much to alter the course of events - and yet, the "twist" ending occurs anyway. I would agree that the main characters are not exactly sympathetic, so the idea of who to root for will likely be confusing for a number of viewers.
I would dare say that practically everyone here was just going through the motions with this particular episode, anyway.
Six out of 10.
Wait, Who Are We Supposed to Root For?
chrstphrtully27 November 2018
Warning: Spoilers
On a plantation in the British West Indies, young Sheila Trent (Strasberg) is liberated from her impending nuptials by her former lover (Rey), humiliating her older, wealthy groom-to-be (Atwater); as a result, he seeks the assistance of the local voodoo priest to take his revenge.
As the series was winding down, the quality of the scripts for Night Gallery wound down as well, often falling back on clichéd plots to fill the thirty-minute running time, and Doll of Death is no exception. What should flow as a tense story of revenge and comeuppance, is hampered badly by two characters (Strasberg and Rey) who we're supposed to sympathize with, but instead read more as studies in muddled motivation (Strasberg) or just plain obnoxious behavior (Rey) - a problem caused predominantly by the weak script, which gives otherwise good actors little or nothing to work with. Indeed, Barry Atwater's more subtle and nuanced character makes him far more sympathetic than the two lovers - while his character is contemptible, we have a real reason to understand why. A shame, really, since the production design is above average for episodes in the third season, and this could've have been a solid episode on which to send off the series. As it is, a muddle, only worth watching for Atwater's interesting work.
As the series was winding down, the quality of the scripts for Night Gallery wound down as well, often falling back on clichéd plots to fill the thirty-minute running time, and Doll of Death is no exception. What should flow as a tense story of revenge and comeuppance, is hampered badly by two characters (Strasberg and Rey) who we're supposed to sympathize with, but instead read more as studies in muddled motivation (Strasberg) or just plain obnoxious behavior (Rey) - a problem caused predominantly by the weak script, which gives otherwise good actors little or nothing to work with. Indeed, Barry Atwater's more subtle and nuanced character makes him far more sympathetic than the two lovers - while his character is contemptible, we have a real reason to understand why. A shame, really, since the production design is above average for episodes in the third season, and this could've have been a solid episode on which to send off the series. As it is, a muddle, only worth watching for Atwater's interesting work.
Wanted more pain
stones7811 March 2013
My summary line isn't saying this is a bad episode, it was pretty decent actually, but not too much happens in terms of the voodoo spell put on a man named Raphael(Alejandro Rey), who basically steals a woman named Shelia(Susan Strasberg), from a man named Alex(Barry Atwater). Keeping track? Don't get this confused with an earlier episode called "The Doll", and even though that episode is better than this one, I thought there were good performances by all involved, including an interesting scene or 2 from Jean Durand(Andrew)and Murray Matheson(Dr. Strang), especially an effective scene with the latter and Alex in a darkened house, soon after Alex decides to use voodoo on Raphael. It's entirely possible this episode was edited, as I seem to recall more pain inflicted upon Raphael by the curse, but this time around, I only got to see Alex's hands trying to crush the doll, which was made out to resemble poor Raphael, who only writhed in pain one time on the boat he and Shelia were about to sail away on. As I say this, I'm not wishing that much more pain on him, but it would've added to the episode. The ending was unexpected, and that's a good thing.
Voodoo Revenge
AaronCapenBanner13 November 2014
Barry Atwater stars as Alex Brandon, a plantation owner in the British West Indies who is planning on marrying a woman named Sheila Trent(played by Susan Strasberg) who ends up humiliating him and breaking his heart on their wedding day by running off with a former love named Raphael(played by Alejandro Rey). Enraged and despondent, he seeks revenge by using a voodoo doll to kill Raphael and win Sheila back, but this plan ends disastrously as one would expect... Mostly blah tale has a good cast but a stale plot, which ends about the way viewer would expect, though perhaps not hoped, as nobody here engenders much sympathy or interest. Murray Matheson comes off best in small role.
The Doll of DOOOOOM
BandSAboutMovies8 September 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Alec Brandon (Barry Atwater) is about to marry his trophy wife Sheila Trent (Susan Strasberg). He's rich, he owns a mansion in the West Indies and he has guests coming in from all over the world for their wedding. Well, they were getting married. But Raphael (Alejandro Rey), Sheila's lover of years past, comes in and takes her away from all this. This won't stand.
Brandon gets his valet Andrew (Jean Durand) to get him a voodoo doll and right in the middle of lovemaking, red hand marks appear on Sheila's back. She decides to go back and confront her near-husband and finds that he's already killed Andrew, who tried to get him to stop attacking her, and is given a ring that can end all of this.
"The Doll of Death" was directed by John Badham and written by Jack Guss from a story by Vivian Meik. It's not the best Night Gallery story. It's not even the best doll Night Gallery story. That would be "The Doll." But still, it does have its charms and Strasberg is good in her role.
Brandon gets his valet Andrew (Jean Durand) to get him a voodoo doll and right in the middle of lovemaking, red hand marks appear on Sheila's back. She decides to go back and confront her near-husband and finds that he's already killed Andrew, who tried to get him to stop attacking her, and is given a ring that can end all of this.
"The Doll of Death" was directed by John Badham and written by Jack Guss from a story by Vivian Meik. It's not the best Night Gallery story. It's not even the best doll Night Gallery story. That would be "The Doll." But still, it does have its charms and Strasberg is good in her role.
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