Dolls
Dolls is a 1987 horror film directed by Stuart Gordon and produced by Brian Yuzna.
A family consisting of innocent, neglected little girl Judy Bower (Carrie Lorraine) and her surly, abusive father David (Ian Patrick Williams) and stepmother Rosemary (Carolyn Purdy Gordon) are driving in the English countryside when a thunderstorm brews up and their car gets stuck in the mud. They are forced to take refuge in a big, old mansion occupied by elderly couple Gabriel (Guy Rolfe) and Hilary (Hilary Mason) Hartwicke. Promptly, kind-hearted businessman Ralph (Stephen Lee) arrives with two British punk rock girl hitchhikers, Isabel (Bunty Bailey) and Enid (Cassie Stuart), in tow. The Hartwickes allow the six to stay the night. Something is not quite right about them... they are too charming and hospitable. Gabriel is a toymaker, and thus, every room of their mansion is piled high with mysterious antique dolls. Something is not quite right about the dolls either...
Was the inspiration for a string of killer doll movies during The Eighties, most notably |Child's Play.
- Abusive Parents: David and Rosemary.
- Adult Child: Ralph. He still loves playing with toys and is implied to by a child at heart.
- An Arm and a Leg
- Asshole Victim: David, Rosemary, Isabel and Enid. And how.
- B-Movie
- Bittersweet Ending: David, Rosemary, Isabel and Enid get mauled by the dolls and turned into dolls themselves. Gabriel forges a letter claiming that David and Rosemary abandoned Judy and that she is to go back to live with her birth mother in Boston, never to see them again. At first Judy is slightly sad, but she gets over it, and then Ralph takes her away back to Boston, wherein it is implied he will marry her birth mother.
- Blood From the Mouth
- Cassandra Truth
- Chairman of the Brawl
- Cheerful Child: Judy.
- Closed Circle
- Creepy Basement
- Creepy Doll: Well obviously.
- Dramatic Thunder: A lot.
- Drop the Hammer
- Everything's Worse with Bears
- Evil Laugh: The dolls chitter and giggle constantly.
- Ghost Butler
- Glowing Eyes of Doom
- Hostile Weather
- Insistent Terminology: "Elves."
- Knife Nut
- Living Toys: Also obviously.
- Mama Bear/Papa Wolf: A lot of examples. First when Ralph is mistaken for murdering Isabel, he mentions that he and Judy were looking for her. David immediately assumes the worst with Ralph and threatens him. But David and Rosemary are cruel to Judy, so it's more of a case of Even Evil Has Standards. Ralph does try to be one trying to protect Judy from the dolls and later an angry David trying to kill them both. Gabriel and Hilary whom have been nothing but nice to Judy and accommodating her and Ralph by showing them his Doll Collection. The scary part about them is even when they're lecturing David on abusing Judy and what it means to be a parent, they never once raise their voice in anger. The Dolls themselves qualify at a lethal level. They protect the innocents and especially children, but reek lethal vengeance on anyone that messes with David, Hilary or the kids in their care. Ralph was initially next on their list, but when Judy vouched for him, they became his protectors two. Even moving them out of harms way when David and Mr. Punch are fighting each other.
- Mistaken for Murderer: Ralph.
- Monster Clown
- My Little Panzer: The soldier toys.
- Old Dark House: The old couple's house where all the characters end up taking refuge.
- Our Fairies Are Different: It is hinted the things inside the dolls are fairies. Very different fairies.
- Pet the Dog: While Enid and Isabel are Jerkasses to Gabriel, Hillary and Ralph, they never once acted hostile towards Judy. While like her parents, Enid didn't believe Judy at first when she said the little people took Isabel, when she finds out Judy was telling the truth, her last words are said in a tone that is mixed of fear of the dolls and regret she didn't believe Judy. One of many reasons why fans thought she deserved to live.
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Enid: Oh my god. The girl was right. The little people, they're fucking dolls. |
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- Punch and Judy: Judy is given a Punch doll (not the one her father gets turned into), as it goes together with her name.
- Screaming Woman: Three of them!
- Super Window Jump
- Supernatural-Proof Father
- Sword Cane
- This Is a Drill
- Transformation Sequence
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Judy is as sweet and adorable of a child as any kid in a horror movie. However there are times when the audience seems to think she may kill someone one day. For starters, after Rosemary tosses away her teddy bear, Judy imagines the bear coming to life. Then growing up to nearly 7 to 8 feet tall. Then turning into a huge monster which mauls the couple to death. After all is said and done, all she does is scold the teddy, who shrugs. Thankfully that was a dream. However as the film goes on, she seems to take some things in stride. She's the only one other than Ralph that treats the toys with respect and vice versa. When they attack Ralph for attacking them, she scolds them like a parent scolding a child. Has no qualms telling off Rosemary and later David. While she is initially sad at first that David apparently ditched her. She gets over it, because that means she can go home and introduce Ralph to her mother.
- Wait Here
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Gabriel and Hilary.
- What Could Have Been: Sequel was planned, but it never materialized.
- Whip It Good
- Wicked Stepmother: Rosemary.