Director: Stephen Wolfe
Writer: Stephen Wolfe (Screenplay)
Starring: Justin Herman, Nicole Elliott, Andy Palmer, Boo Gay, Eric C Schneider, Tracy Collins
Plot: A small Texas town is terrorized by evil possessed baby dolls.
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Grindhouse 101
Story: Doll Factory starts as a group of friends Kay (Elliott), Melvin (Palmer), Miguel (Rubi), Derek (Schneider) and Allison (Collins) decide to ditch a Halloween party to head to a remote haunted house with the a book of spells, which unwittingly brings the killer dolls back to life.
Kay and Melvin are the only ones that make it out, with the police wanting nothing to do with their story, Kay turns to her brother Mark (Herman) to help hack into the local achieves to learn the truth about the factory, as they need to end the curse they have unleashed.
Thoughts on Doll Factory
Characters – Mark is the geeky brother of Kay, he has the computer skills to help them learn more about the doll factory, out of the three, he is the one that will scream the most and will get the most laughs of the three. Kay is one of the originals that releases the dolls, she is with her boyfriend and turns to her brother for information, only for her to be the bravest in the battle against the dolls. Melvin in the boyfriend that is jealous of her ex, he does want to remain brave for her and will step up to protect her against the dolls. Darius Grumley is the man that has thought the dolls in the past, now he is considered a mad man in town, though he will be the only one that could save the town.
Performances – The performances in the film across the board are just like you would imagine from a Grindhouse film, Justin Herman makes the geeky character believable throughout, while Nicole Elliott does bring us a strong leading lady. Andy Palmer will get more laughs that you would think too.
Story – The story here follows a group of teenagers bored at a party who decide to read from a book of spells that bring a bunch of killer dolls back to life and must race against time to put an end to the spell before they become overrun. This is a story that plays into the grindhouse tone which is always seen as a type of horror that is way over the top and doesn’t care about the amount of blood being spilled, it is easy to follow without having to give us any twists along the way. We have the idea that will give us a few laughs along the way too, which is always nice to see in a horror comedy.
Comedy/Horror – The comedy does try to use the one-liners like Chucky does, they do feel forced, though it does play into the comedy tone of the film too, the horror comes from the dark bloody deaths we see by the dolls.
Settings – The film is set in a small town, which has the legend of the dolls, which most people have forgotten about, we do have a lot of the action in the abandoned factory which is the center of the hauntings.
Special Effects – The effects in the film aren’t afraid to hold back on the blood, while certain CGI moments might not look great, it does add to everything we are seeing unfolding for the tone of the film.
Scene of the Movie – Dolls in the bedroom.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Some of the comedy does miss.
Final Thoughts – This is a fun grindhouse style horror comedy, it has plenty of blood, one-liners and a nice big body count.
Overall: Fun horror comedy.
