Film Review: THE DEVIL’S DOLLS (2016)

THE DEVIL’S DOLLS (2016) is a thriller that concerns itself with the story of worry dolls.  Written by Danny Kolker and Christopher Wiehl and directed by Padraig Reynolds the film concerns a police detective Matt (Wiehl) who has just captured a serial killer who died while being apprehended.  While taking some of the evidence home his car, his daughter Chloe (Kennedy Brice) takes with her a wooden box filled with little dolls that she thinks are trinkets.

Chloe ends up using the dolls as jewelry to sell to people that come into her mother’s store.  When the people who have purchased the dolls start going homicidal and killing loved ones it appears like there is more to Matt’s serial killer than he original thought.  When Chloe becomes ill after coming under the influence of the doll’s power, Matt must put aside his beliefs to discover the true nature of the worry dolls and how to save his daughter before she becomes another victim.

 Although the cast does an excellent job the film itself isn’t all that interesting in terms of story.  It’s a very subtle horror-thriller in which when the horror happens there is nothing that you haven’t already seen before.  This being said, the film looks great with Adam Sampson behind the cinematography.  The story itself isn’t that bad either and is written very well, it’s just that the overall film is just a little lacking probably due to the subject matter.

Reynold’s is a very capable director having done the film Rites of Spring (2011) and I’m looking forward to his latest film Open 24 Hours (2018) which I’m sure will be a step up for him.

Film Review: RITES OF SPRING (2011)

Spring has come and with it tradition and rites that need to be adhered to in order for order to be kept.  This is the basic premise behind Rites of Spring (2011) a better than expected monster film that fuses the gangster film with the horror film in surprisingly original ways. 

Written and directed by Padraig Reynolds the film has two parallel storylines.  One follows four criminals whose kidnapping goes south and the second storyline follows two women who are abducted by a man who has a nefarious objective that involves a monster hidden in a hole in the barn.  When the kidnappers stumble upon one of the captured women all hell breaks loose and everyone finds themselves being hunted down by a creature that none of them understands.

The reason why the film works is because it has a very simply premise that is not hampered down by a complicated plot and although there is a complicated mythology surrounding the creature in the film very little time is spent explaining it.  At a brisk running time of only 80 minutes the film is a roller coaster ride from beginning to end and horror fans should not be dismayed by the gangster-kidnapping story as Reynolds does a great job of balancing the two very different story threads.

What also elevates this film above other indie horror films is the better than expected cast headlined by the always dependable AJ Bowen (of The Signal and You’re Next) and Reynolds direction of the material.  This is a film much better than expected and will not disappoint horror fans.