Devil Doll
Directed by Lindsay Shonteff
Written by Ronald Kinnoch, Charles F. Vetter; story by Frederick E. Smith
1964/UK
Galaworld Film Productions/Gordon Films
First viewing/YouTube
One of 1000 on They Shoot Zombies Don’t They?
[box] “Dolls with no little girls around to mind them were sort of creepy under any conditions.” ― Stephen King, Desperation[/box]
There’s something sort of creepy about ventriloquist’s dummies – especially when the ventriloquist is also a hypnotist. An interesting premise does not necessarily mean a good movie, however.
The Great Vorelli does an act mixing ventriloquism with hypnotism on the vaudeville circuit in London. His hypnotism is strangely sadistic (believing you are being executed; stripping down to the buff) and his dummy is strangely disobedient. A reporter is investigating and talks his wealthy girlfriend into volunteering to be hynotized. Big, big mistake. Vorelli easily takes over her will and claims her as his own. In the meantime, the reporter also investigates the past of the act and the reason the dummy has to be locked in a cage when not on stage.
This is OK but slow-paced. It was made fun of on Mystery Science Theater 3000 but there are very few unintentional laughs in the movie despite it’s evident low budget. Apparently there were two versions made because the two scenes featuring bare breasts were replaced in the version used for MST3K. It’s not bad but also not something to seek out.
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With the 1960’s, there were so many horror films made that it’s hard to whittle them down. I’ve decided to watch those on the They Shoot Zombies Don’t They? 1,000 Greatest Horror Films List. It’s hard to imagine any one calling Devil Doll a “great” horror film but we’ll see how it goes.
