The Doll Master (2017) by Steven M. Smith

Director: Steven M. Smith

Year: 2017

Country: United Kingdom

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Killer Dolls

Plot:

Stuck living on his own, a man tries to deal with the growing influence of a talking ventriloquist doll in his collection that’s having an adverse effect on his livelihood, only to become convinced the continuous nightmares he’s facing are the result of demonic forces controlling the doll.

Review:

Overall, this was a decidedly enjoyable indie effort. One of the finer features here is the strong setup that provides a strong psychological bent on a somewhat traditional killer doll effort. The first half manages to bring about a rather intriguing tale on the nature of the doll on the owner which starts to indulge in the usual form of trickery involving haunted ventriloquist dolls where it constantly berates and insults the owner while also being the only one to understand who he really is to impact the loneliness he feels even further. This all helps to bring about a sense of pathos and pity for him, the more they interact with the hinted-at realization that the doll and other mannequins around the house are alive and helping to torment the mentally-unstable owner for their own amusement.

These factors are helped along by the middle half when the camera crew arrives and the film turns into a found-footage-style exploration of the haunted tunnels he uses to help ease himself away from the doll’s influence. The initial backstory of the area and how it manages to be incorporated into the storyline about the missing doll is rather fun and handled rather nicely, which turns the later half into a nice bit of supernatural hauntings. Getting plenty of usage out of the dark, decrepit underground tunnels that they’re shooting in, the mix of psychological hallucinations involving the spirit of his mother coming to him to continue hoarding his troubled past over him or the secondary physical manifestations of the mannequins coming to life to enact the troubled history of the doll and why it’s persisting create some solid imagery and action throughout here which make the film pretty enjoyable.

There are some missteps here that hold it back. Most of this is due to the overly talkative first half that aims for the psychological ruminations and backstory of the owner without actually doing anything to impart a dark and twisted storyline. With everything here feeling as those there’s a lot of nothing happening watching him interact with the doll growing progressively crazier over time with the cliched notions of the doll lording over his human companion to the point of outright insulting him, it makes for a somewhat underwhelming start to everything with this type of starting point. As well, with the whole thing dripping in the kind of low-budget limitations usually associated with the genre, ranging from flimsy effects-work, non-threatening props, and obvious make-up to go along with the one-location setting that highlights what type of film this is from the start and serves to bring this one down.

Overview: ***/5

A solid and enjoyable low-budget indie, this one comes across rather nicely for what it is, as a few minor flaws are just enough to bring it down from what it could’ve been. Those with an interest in this style of genre fare or are fans of the creative crew will have the most to like here, while most others out there might want to heed caution.