Dolly Dearest (1991)

I love this movie so much

Instant Favorite.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Director Maria Lease brings her full artistry to the screen in this horrific tale of a evil Mexican doll that threatens to bring a family to the pit of destruction. Denise Crosby and Sam Bottoms give powerful performances that bring both gravitas and realism to this film and it is some of their best work in years. Rip Torn does a fascinating turn in a brief role that reminds us of why he is always a welcome presence in any piece of cinema. The script is full of terror and the suspense is virtually unrelenting. Thanks to a intelligent script that respects the audience, the movie never goes so far that it tests the credulity of viewers. The special effects and make-up are first rate as are the overall production values. The location shooting in Santa Clarita also help in creating a suitably menacing environment for the stunning events to take place in and the horror of Dolly Dearest to reach a shattering climax of nearly overwhelming intensity.

A lot of "Dolly Dearest" seems like a "Child's Play" ripoff, with a doll possessed by an evil spirit. In this case, the evil spirit comes from an ancient cult in Mexico, and the doll starts controlling the girl who owns it. Most of the movie is pretty predictable but still entertaining.As is often the case with horror flicks, the cast creates some interesting connections. A noticeable cast member is the recently deceased Lupe Ontiveros as the housekeeper. She played a number of roles over the years; one of her notable roles was that of the woman scorned by Jack Nicholson early on in "As Good as It Gets". The mom is Denise Crosby, aka Bing's granddaughter and best known as Tasha Yar on "Star Trek: The Next Generation"; it seemed as though her character is supposed to look like Marilyn Monroe or Grace Kelly or someone like that. The dad is Sam Bottoms, best known as Lance in "Apocalypse Now". The archaeologist is Rip Torn, most recently known as the chief in the "Men in Black" movies. Crazy stuff.So, it's basically some cheap entertainment. Still an OK choice for Halloween.

SPOILY SPOILERS The Read's/Rade's/Wade's (they are referred to all three names during the movie) move to Mexico from L.A, cutesy Jessica is not too happy so to compensate her, her parents put all her weird behavior including (but not limited to) speaking a dead Mexican Satanist language, speaking in a voice normally reserved for demons on cable exorcisim shows, being rude to the maid, cutting her own hair, drawing pictures of hellbeasts, having screaming fits in the car and turning into a dark eyed, pasty, non-verbal problem child who sneaks around with pointy weapon, down to the move and definitely not to the ugly doll her father gave her from the abandoned factory he was tricked into buying.It's fine as a movie, couple of creepy moments (where the doll is in the chair, Denise Crosby hears clippy clacky steps, looks up and sees the chair rocking on it's own) but as scary as a loaf of bread and similar in other ways too, like it's plain, in need of something else to give it flavor and bloodless.No reason you should avoid it if you like cheesy horror and if you are reading a review on it you obviously do.Special mention of Candy Hutson, she was very good in this and it's a pity we don't see more of her

"Dolly Dearest" (1991) is a poor imitation of "Dolls" (1987) and "Child's Play" (1988)--certainly its only financial hope being to cash in on the others' success. The cinematography is pedestrian, the story predictable. I saw the preview for "Dolly Dearest" on the "Servants of Twilight" (1991) video--both straight-to-video releases. The preview, I must say, was quite frightening, giving the impression that "Dolly Dearest" would be more like the straightforward plot of "Child's Play." But "Dolly Dearest" posits a Mayan devil-child taking over the bodies of some Mexican dolls. (Why dolls? Why not!) However the children of Satan apparently can be easily killed with a shotgun and some dynamite. Not much to worry about here.Comparing "Dolly Dearest" and "Dolls" shows the absolute need for 1) a modicum of imagination from the director, and 2) a smidgen of creativity from the cinematographer. The plot of "Dolls" is rather ordinary, although it does have an E.C.-revenge logic to it. But "Dolls" just plain looks better. If you're going to sit through an hour-and-a-half of dumbness, at least make the dumbness look good. The cinematography of "Dolly Dearest" is usually plain, sometimes plain ugly. Also, the camera does absolutely nothing to increase the tension. The director apparently felt that a grimacing girly doll would be scary enough.