Director: Lars Klavberg
Year: 2019
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Trying to please her distraught son, a woman decides to bring home a defective automated doll for his birthday, but after getting it set up realize the doll really was malfunctioned and is set upon killing those who try to interfere in his life, forcing him to try to deal with the doll before it kills him.
Review:
As a stand-alone entry, there’s quite a lot to like here. One of the biggest attributes to this one is the updated accommodations to the story that takes place in the modern-day. By giving us enough information early on to show that the home-security set up to allow the doll a later setup where it runs wild on the technology around him, this one does a great job at showing the potential for it to go wrong simply by virtue of following the instructions given literally. That the doll takes the instructions to be his only friend as an excuse to kill everyone and everything around him makes for a strong indictment against the use of killer technology in today’s society, especially when it gets to the craziness of its finale. Showing the wildness of the doll switching on the various devices in the store because it can and causing a massive assault on the clueless shoppers solely because of the ability to do so, this one creates a standout action scene to bring this aspect to life.
This one also manages quite a lot to like about the gradual turns towards killing. From the first moments the kids realize the doll is off and able to do unconventional actions, they set it up to freak out the boyfriend in several enjoyable scenes before realizing that it’s also going after the cat. That leads to its brutal murder followed by even more deaths around them where they realize what’s going on with the dolls’ homicidal tendencies targeting everyone to tends to inadvertently threaten him or mention being a friend of his. These are where the film shines as the scenes of the doll attacking at the boyfriends’ house, the stalking around the friends’ house when he’s trying to be with the other group of friends or the amazing scene stalking the elderly neighbor in the self-driven car that ends with some stellar action and stunt work. All combined together with the impressive effects work on the doll to make it come to life, this combines into a great central killer and really holds this one up overall.
There are a few minor issues to be had here. The biggest problem here is the film’s incredibly hamfisted manner in which the corrupt doll gets on the market and into the hands of the family which seems pure contrivance. The worker corrupting the dolls’ software is completely underwhelming with no motivation or build-up to doing so and the fallout of the incident at the plant would’ve brought more scrutiny than it does. That also plays out in the murders where the police are continually finding bodies that couldn’t possibly be done by the kid yet nothing is done by that, much like the lack of understanding what happened to the various kills like the building handyman or the neighbor which was an incident witnessed by dozens of people to provide enough of a counterpoint to their fleeting conclusions. As it is, this one tends to be quite easy to spot contrivance to let the story unfold when it didn’t need to be, which is the main issue that holds this one back.
Overview: ****.5/5
A generally impressive and enjoyable update that has enough to say and fun to do it that this is worthwhile enough. Those who are interested in the update, fans of this kind of film or are willing to look at the film on its own terms should look into this one, while franchise loyalists who can’t or are unwilling to do that should heed caution.
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