The Tale of the Dollmaker 

A girl goes to visit her friend in the country, but learns she has mysteriously disappeared!

Director:

David Winning

Writers:

D.J. MacHale (original creator), David Preston

Stars:

Maia Filar, Amanda Walsh, Eve Crawford

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Maia Filar	...	Melissa
Amanda Walsh	...	Susan Henderson
Eve Crawford	...	Aunt Sally
Sam Stone	...	Uncle Pete
Jason Alisharan	...	Frank
Ross Hull	...	Gary
Raine Pare-Coull	...	Betty Ann
Jodie Resther	...	Kiki
Daniel DeSanto	...	Tucker
JoAnna Garcia Swisher	...	Sam (as Joanna Garcia)

Storyline

A girl goes to visit her friend in the country, but learns she has mysteriously disappeared!

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Plot Keywords:

girl | animate doll | bathrobe | flashlight | unnecessary guilt | 

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Genres:

Drama | Family | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-Y7

Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 February 1994 (Canada)

Company Credits

Production Co:

YTV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

22 min (52 episodes)

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Amanda Walsh who portrayed Susan, later reappeared in the episode "The Tale of a Door Unlocked" as a unnamed girl called Girl aka The girl who gave Ashley a cupcake.

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Quotes

Uncle Pete: You didn't tell her what Marge Henderson said about the house, did you?
Aunt Sally: Shh. She might hear you! No, of course not. Anyway, Marge was beside herself with grief; she didn't know what she was saying.
Uncle Pete: Maybe not, but she said it pretty clearly: "It was the house that got her!"

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Soundtracks

Are You Afraid of the Dark? Theme
Arranged and produced by Ray Fabi

User Reviews

Hell's Dollhouse

This episode is another honorable mention, it's similar to the Twilight Zone tale "Little Girl Lost" but personally I think this episode is a little better because we see the protagonist engage in the other dimension.

This story is it's basically an entrapment thriller only the place their entrapped in is another dimension which makes the situation all the trickier because in other dimensions it means certain rules are different. The suspense is hoping somehow the protagonist can learn those rules on time and use them to his or her advantage.

I do like how in the first half of the story, it's at first a gradual build up, where it's all a mystery at first and just like the protagonist we're filled with questions like why is her neighbor's house abandoned, what happened to her friend, but the big question is why is a big door in the attic which looks like an enlarged doll house door, let alone what is the door and the dollhouses connection? All those questions really add to the suspense but most importantly the enigmatic quality as we do get some answers to some questions but not all.

It then comes down to the dollhouse venture sequence which I really like. The set pieces are great I really like how they make everything look like enlarged pieces for a dollhouse, even like that some pieces look jumbo sized from food on the table, to even the toys in the attic. It really gives the place a surreal foreboding quality, because everything is so strange and unfamiliar, which give you that creeping feeling of disorientation.

I also like the tale has the body horror aspect. We do see her friend Susan which is really creepy and sad as we see she is slowly turning into a doll, really like the makeup work on her, she really looked like porcelain. Though I'll admit one moment gave a slight chill but also wince in pain as we see her take her hand off; this really ratcheted up the threat level from medium to hi as we realize how serious the condition really is and that time is running out as both are slowly but surely becoming inhuman.

Can Melissa find a way out before it's too late, you'll have to wait and find out.

Rating: 3 and a half stars.