Playing with Dolls

Another film with the gear and the cast but an under-developed script. The opening drops us into a lot of action but never explains what's going on; you must infer from what you're shown. The lead baddie at his computer monitor is never explained either. What are his goals? Who frees serial killers in order to watch them at work? You must make motivations clear to the audience. The young heroine needs money - but what is everyone else up to, and why? The first hour (!) is heavily padded with superfluous goings-on. A few jump scares don't make up for a lack of real tension either. This was a near miss - a sharper focus on its goals, with fewer shots of the killer in full daylight, and this could have been an effective little thriller. Here's hoping the follow-ups are better vetted. Worth watching for the extremely pretty Natasha Blasick, the nifty (but unexplained) mask on the killer, and - well, not much else.