Director: Rod Blackhurst
Year: 2025
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Heading out to the woods together, a couple find themselves running afoul of a demented, doll-loving serial killer looking to keep them for herself as a twisted mother figure to them and forces one of the survivors to try dealing with her hostess to get away from the situation alive.
Review:
This was a fairly fun if slightly flawed genre effort. One of the better elements within here is the grandiose setup that provides the film with a strong central premise that becomes immensely fun to see play out. Opening with the couple in the middle of their relationship, where she’s secretly trying to come to terms with her troubled feelings of motherhood and wanting to stay out of the position, even with the thought of marriage and step-mother in her sights, the juxtaposition against what happens later on takes a great turn. When she’s captured and forced into the position of a human doll by her monstrous kidnapper, that helps to fuel her attempts at dealing with the situation as she puts up with everything, knowing what we do gives this a great touch.
That becomes far more apparent over time as the second half turns us away from that into more of a demented form of role-play with the hulking killer looking to treat her as a living human doll. While the actions might seem innocent enough in concept, the execution of everything has a far more overtly ominous tone with the interplay between the two and the obvious size difference allowing her to impose her will against the more kindhearted captive, so that her being fed, milked, or sung to sleep has a genuinely unnerving quality to it. While never graphic or brutal, they have a disturbing quality that comes together really well with how her behavior works during these moments.
The finale, not just the strong confrontation in the house with the remaining member of the captive subjects but also the escape through the woods where it brings together several fun encounters and a harrowing series of escapes through the woods that includes some rather enjoyable aspects while also featuring the one lone misstep in the film where she’s one of the most egregious and worst-offending weapon-droppers in the genre. Multiple times over the course of the encounter does she gets the upper hand to end everything by placing a vicious series of blows with a sharp object capable of killing her for good, only for it all to continue for no reason other than needing to hit a proper running length. However, it’s really the only real issue to be had within this one.
Overview: ****/5
An immensely enjoyable and sometimes chilling genre effort, there’s quite a lot to like here and only a few minor flaws that don’t mean much to the finished product, which leaves it quite high overall. Those with an interest in the subject matter or who are curious about the approach here will have a lot to like here, while most others out there might want to heed caution.
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