Paper Dolls (2007)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Directors:

David Blair
Adam Pitman

Writers:

David Blair (writer)
Adam Pitman (writer)

Release Date:

7 June 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Will you believe what you see?

Plot:

Paper Dolls is a terrifying psychological thriller set near the beautiful landscape of Glacier National Park...

Plot Keywords:

Psychological Thriller | Twist | Sasquatch | Bigfoot

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Rob Benitz	...	Sheriff
David Blair	...	Car Passenger
Andra Carlson	...	911 dispatcher
Fox Clark	...	Todd
Lynn-Wood Fields	...	Kristen Cahill
Gill Gayle	...	Joey Domain
Gatlin Hardy	...	Alpha Sasquatch
Kent Harper	...	Old Man
Sarina Hart	...	Stephanie Radley
Tony Hernandez	...	Bill Brooks
Dan Hickey	...	Student
Mike Houser	...	Sasquatch
Rian Jairell	...	Chris Conway
Jasmine John	...	Rachel Redwood
Angela Millhone	...	Car Passenger
Josh Mintz	...	Sasquatch
Life Noell	...	Greg Stillwell
Jaime Perkins	...	Jen Lilly
Nathaniel Peterson	...	Nate Conway
Adam Pitman	...	Travis Brooks
Dane Sjoden	...	Sasquatch
Adam Stilwell	...	Darren Summers

Runtime:

USA:98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Montana, USA

Company:

BadFritter Films

A weird and scary take on the Sasquatch legend

OK, I just ejected the DVD, and I'm just gonna start writing some thoughts.

Wow.

Good job, Badfritter films. Lots of good things about what could have been a terrible movie. Somehow you managed to avoid a load of opportunities to screw it up! It doesn't give anything away to say I like the ending. If it turned out the way I suspected, I was gonna be disappointed. But you went a little further, and muddied that tidy ending up. Good move. I think the average joe will have different opinions as to what really happened. That's good. You want people to ponder after the film, so thoughts linger. You find yourself wanting to go back and look at the film again for hidden clues.

Also, you used techniques of the older classic horror movies that work. It made me think of the classic 1950's horror film, THE THING, which never clearly showed the monster, to GREAT effect. You probably know that movie? The trick is to not show enough of the creature to make viewers go, "What cheap special effects." , but you DO show enough of the creature to ignite the imagination and let the viewer fill in the blanks, which makes for much more effective psychological horror. And that's exactly what you did. Another good decision. The problem with modern horror is that there's no mystery anymore, with excellent special effects that show every detail. You wisely avoided that.

Do I have any critical thoughts?.....Well, the opening sequence is very misleading. Maybe that's a good thing, maybe not. It's full of partying teenagers, etc and the first thing that went through my head was, "Oh, this is gonna be one of those movies where there's hints of teen sex, that get interrupted by slashing until all the characters are dead. Great, another one of those predictable movies." I was so relieved when the movie moved away from that. As soon as the 2 guys were on the road, the movie changed, and it was a different film altogether. It's good that happens early in the movie, because as a film rental, you might lose people before the movie gets going, and they might pop the thing out and not watch it all. But it changes from teen-slasher -film so early that it still keeps you in, and interested. (Yes, there's gratuitous gore here and there, but you didn't over-do it, or under-do it. I don't like gore films, but I can take it.) The main guy who plays Travis is a good actor, and the other dude that plays his friend does fine as well. He's a little annoying, as he should be. The guy who plays the Sasquatch crypto expert is VERY good. It's his behavior that I studied for clues as to what really happened.

As an artist, I also liked the fact that Travis was nervously sketching and writing in his journal all the time, and surrounded by art in his room. Also, the chalkboard art depicting the history of Sasquatch was very good. Art and writing is a big factor of the main character in this film. Scary!