All Rise...

Judge Patrick Bromley loves his action figures. Well...he did before seeing this.

Editor's Note

Our review of Dolls, published April 5th, 2005, is also available.

The Charge

They walk. They talk. They kill.

Opening Statement

The first time I saw Stuart Gordon's Dolls a few years ago, it left me cold. I didn't understand what the director—of whom I'm a big, big fan—was up to, and the movie felt trapped between something that wanted to be genuinely scary and something a bit campy and silly. Revisiting it again recently, those same things I once saw as weaknesses were now virtues; it was a Stuart Gordon movie that feels unlike any of his others, and while there is something of a tonal disconnect, it has become one of the things I like about the movie.

Dolls is now making its North American Blu-ray debut (a Region 2 Blu-ray of the film was already available in the UK) courtesy of my beloved Scream Factory, and its bonus materials help explain exactly how that disconnect came to be.

Facts of the Case

Judy (Carrie Lorraine, Poltergeist II) is a young girl traveling with her pathetic douchebag father (Ian Patrick Williams, Robot Jox) and witch of a stepmom (Carolyn Purdy Gordon, From Beyond) through Europe when their car breaks down in a storm. They find a nearby house owned by Gabriel and Hilary Hartwick (Guy Rolfe of Mr. Sardonicus and Hilary Mason of Don't Look Now), an eccentric elderly couple who welcome the travelers into their home mostly because they take a liking to Judy. Gabriel is a toymaker with a house full of dolls, and the Hartwicks bond with Judy over her love of her stuffed animals (established in an amusing fantasy sequence early on with a killer bear, which does a great job of setting up the movie's scary/funny tone). Childhood, you see, is important to them.

Soon, more travelers arrive: two female British punks who caught a ride with nice guy Ralph (Stephen Lee, RoboCop 2). Before long, all the jerks are reacting like jerks and the dolls make them pay for it, leaving sole believer Judy to try and convince Ralph of what's going on before they both end up trapped in the house as dolls for the rest of time.

The Evidence

Situated between his horror classics Re-Animator and From Beyond (though released after both), Stuart Gordon's Dolls is a huge departure for the filmmaker. It trades in the gooey Lovecraftian insanity for something more moody and gentle—Gordon's take on Grimm's fairy tales. Like so many of the titles Scream Factory puts out, it's an underrated little gem from the heyday of '80s horror.

Shot quickly as a way of getting maximum use of the Italian mansion where From Beyond would shoot, Dolls is, as hinted above, somewhat schizophrenic as a movie. Gordon wanted to make one movie—one steeped in child psychology—while producer Charles Band wanted something more violent and edgy. Screenwriter Ed Naha was trying to write something more classically '40s inspired. The three things don't butt up against one another quite as uncomfortably as one might expect, and if I didn't know a little about the production history (and wish it was less gory so I can show it to my son sooner than later) I might assume it was the exact movie Gordon set out to make. I like the movie's willingness to get weird later on in its (brief) running time, and there's a reveal as to what's really going on with the dolls that's creepy and fun and feels like it fits right into the world Gordon has created despite being a post-production insert. It makes no sense given what we see in the movie's final moments, but it's a cool moment nonetheless.

The way Gordon blends the "Old Dark House" movie with a dark fairy tale and maintains a sense of humor throughout makes Dolls a much more special and interesting movie than I originally realized. It has its own kind of nightmare logic; specific rules that must be followed or else bad people will be punished—Grimm's fairy tales by way of E.C. Comics. The simple morality of it all is another reason I wish it was a bit less gory and a bit more appropriate for kids, as it offers them a good message—be happy you're a kid, because it's incredibly special—without talking down to them when it comes to being creepy or weird or atmospheric. As an adult, I can embrace the gore as part of what makes Dolls the cool little movie that it is. But seeing how close it comes to be something else and knowing that it might have tipped another direction does make me long a little bit for what might have been.

One of the movie's strong suits is the presence of Stephen Lee (who passed away just two months ago at age 58) as Ralph. While his performance is sometimes uneven—he has a tendency to go a little too big—it's the key to enjoying the movie. Ralph is not our audience conduit; it's too much told from a child's perspective (Gordon even shoots a number of scenes from a low angle, the way a kid might view the world) and requires that we embrace our inner child to get on board. But that kind of suspension of disbelief isn't always easy, and Ralph is the guy who represents that more than anyone. He's the guy who recognizes how crazy everything is—his loud, shocked outbursts are very funny—but who has to adapt to the rules and embrace childhood in order to make it through. That's us. Yes, we might find the prospect of killer dolls silly (as horror fans, we really shouldn't), but if we're going to make it to the end of the movie we need to tap in to the movie's wavelength.

Scream Factory's Blu-ray of Dolls is another of the company's strong efforts. The newly-commissioned cover art is excellent, but purists have the option of reversing it and using the iconic original cover art. The films is presented solid HD transfer (it appears to be the same one used for the R2 release), which shows some minor signs of aging—particularly during processed effects shots—but generally keeps detail strong and maintains solid black levels. That's especially important given the movie's dark, shadowy photography. The lossless 2.0 audio track is good, keeping the dialogue audible in the center channel and making good use of Richard Band's moody, atmospheric score.

Two commentary tracks are included, both of which have been ported over from MGM's original DVD release of the film. The first and best features director Stuart Gordon and screenwriter Ed Naha discussing the movie, warts and all, and offering a lot of production background and insight into what they were hoping to achieve, even when they weren't entirely successful. The second track features the four leads, Carrie Lorraine, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon (the director's wife), Ian Patrick Williams and Stephen Lee, who talk about their experiences making the movie and having a lot of positive things to say about it; it's pleasant, but not nearly the required listening that the Gordon/Naha track is.

New to Scream Factory's edition is one of their fantastic retrospective featurettes, called "Toys of Terror," which contains recollections from Gordon, Purdy-Gordon, Ian Patrick Williams, producer Charles Band, screenwriter Ed Naha, producer Brian Yuzna and the team responsible for the visual effects. It covers some of the same ground as the commentary, but is recommended because it underscores what a singular, sometimes schizophrenic movie Dolls is. Even the people involved can't quite get a handle on the movie's unusual tone, but everyone recognizes it as something special.

Also included are a short film-to-storyboard comparison, a gallery of production photos and the original theatrical trailer. It's unfortunate that there aren't more new supplemental features included, but I'm glad that both the commentaries have been carried over.

Closing Statement

Dolls is yet another great release of an old Empire Picture from Scream Factory, and another fine example of a movie that's going to find a totally new audience thanks to this Blu-ray. It's a different kind of Stuart Gordon movie, and the change of pace is a welcome one.

Scream Factory recently announced plans to put out Gordon's Robot Jox sometime next year, which is not only great news because I love the movie but also because it's another step towards Scream Factory releasing every one of the director's films.

The Verdict

A lot of fun. Not guilty.

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