In 1963, the Twilight Zone released it's 126th episode. "The Living Doll." About a talking doll who was in a feud with her kid's stepfather which eventually ended in his death. The show was what became the precursor for the killer doll genre of Horror Movies and Shows. However, it didn't gain traction until 1987 when Stuart Gordon, released what I can only describe as the most family friendly R-Rated Horror film I have ever seen in my life. This was the movie that predated Child's Play by a year. A movie that at the time was considered too tame compared to Gordon's other works like Re-Animator and From Beyond. This is Dolls.
As the 2nd anniversary of his sad passing is 14 days away from this article, I thought I'd look into his works outside the Lovecraft stuff. Both Horror and otherwise, starting with this.
The movie itself was made, due to Gordon reportedly having a phobia of dolls. Which he decided to express to his audience and boy did he.
The movie takes place within the English Countryside and starts with three people. A little girl named Judy Bower, her father David Bower and her Stepmother Rosemary Bower. She is basically the daughter of divorced parents and per custody rules, he's allowed to see her once every summer. However if you got to know these two, you'd wish he'd be prison raped. They verbally and sometimes even physically abuse Judy while downplaying her active imagination. Nostalgia Critic once called Joe Paulson of Tommyknockers, The 6 Million Dollar Asshole for cheating on his wife and treating her like crap. If that's the case then these two are the Terminator of Assholes. They never stop being assholes.
Their car gets stuck in mud, in the middle of a storm and while they look for shelter, Rosemary decides to be an even bigger Asshole by throwing Judy's Teddy into the woods. But don't worry, the Teddy comes back, grows 8 feet tall and mauls them both in revenge. End of movie right? Psyche. Actually that was Judy's imagination at play and her parents are still there to be assholes. Now on one hand they deserved that, but on the otherhand it makes me feel bad for Judy, because they been so abusive to her, that she's already imagining them dying a bloody painful death. It makes me wonder if she may one day snap and kill them herself. Luckily she's a kid in a horror movie and unless her name is in the title, she's not a villain.
They find what looks like an abandoned farmhouse and break in through the basement. Only to be greeted by an elderly couple, the husband with a shotgun in his hand. End of movie right? Well no. Unfortunately Judy saves her two parents just by showing up and explaining what happened to them. The couple, Gabriel and Hilary Hartwicke welcome the trio with open arms and invite them to their kitchen for dinner. You'd think David and Rosemary would treat Judy more nicely for saving their asses, but no. Gabriel introduces himself as a toymaker. One of many people who makes and collects all kinds of old toys, from puppets to of course Dolls. While they have dinner, Rosemary lies about the Teddy Bear, when Gabriel inquires about Judy not having a toy of her own. Gabriel gives Judy, Mr. Punch. An old Puppet from the famous puppet show Punch and Judy. Three more guests arrive. Two foul mouthed Cockney Punkers named Isabella and Enid. As well as Ralph. A nice guy with the heart of a child, who picked them up after Rosemary side-swiped them with their car. Their original intention was to sweet talk and tease Ralph so that they could steal his wallet and car keys, but like the family before them, his car gets stuck in mud too.
The Hartwickes invite them all to stay with them for the night and assigns them their rooms. When Isabell discovers that the dolls are antiques, she an Enid hatch a plan to steal them. Not knowing the Dolls are watching their every move.
When Isabell attempts her plan, she's stalked and brutally beat up by unseen figures. Judy, who went out to get some water spots her bloodied beat body being dragged away, by what she thought were elves. She tries to tell David and Rosemary, but they not only don't believe her, Rosemary threatens to beat her if she doesn't leave. So she promptly does. She goes to Ralph, who while skeptical, helps Judy find Isabel to humor her. They both notice a pool of blood on the floor where Isabel used to be and follow it to the attic. All they can find are toys, but a thunderbolt reveals Isabel tied up with a Doll's head replacing hers. Unfortunately for her, they don't see her. Ralph and Judy try to tell the parents again as well as Enid, but both jump to their own conclusions. Enid thinks Ralph killed Isabel, out of rejection. David and Rosemary think Ralph is a pedophile and warn him away from her. While I hate the two, I gotta admit at least they're not Pedos. Not that it makes them any better. Judy runs away and the rest close the doors on Ralph literally, while David chases after Judy. Threatening to destroy punch, but much like Talky Tina, it's easier said than done as Punch is not only apparently invulnerable, he disappears when David burns himself trying to burn Punch. Meanwhile, Isabel discovers the truth the hard way. First when the Dolls smash her radio and later on when she discovers Isabel. What the audience once thought was just some cruel mask, was actually her head as her eyeballs pop out. Enid valiantly fights the dolls off, using a candle to torch them and her belt as a makeshift flail. However her luck runs out when she gets shot to death by toy soldiers. While waiting for David, Rosemary is also attacked and decides to take her own life rather than be killed by the dolls, by jumping out of a window trying to escape.
Ralph finds Judy who is reunited with Mr. Punch and Judy reveals that she knows what might be causing all the trouble. She takes Ralph to a room full of various dolls. When Ralph realizes they're alive, he immediately thinks they're gonna kill both Judy and him and tries to stomp his way through. Naturally this pisses them off and they would have killed Ralph too. Fortunately, Judy tells them to leave him alone. Which confuses them, so they decide what to do with them. Not letting them leave the room.
David comes back to his room and tries to have alone time with Rosemary, only to find her corpse in the bed. He immediately assumes it's Ralph, so he vows to kill him.
The Dolls decide that Ralph is ok, since Judy vouched for him and they know he'd never hurt her. Unlike David and Rosemary, Ralph takes the hint and leaves peacefully with Judy. However an enraged David comes storming down. Ralph tries to tell him about the toys, but he refuses to believe him. Ralph gets knocked out and David knocks Judy out when she tries to stop him. Just when he was gonna finish Ralph off for good, Punch saves the day and a fight between man and doll ensues. The other dolls take an unconscious Ralph and Judy to safety. David wins and smashes Punch's head off with a sledge hammer. Killing him for good. The Hartwickes come down, unfazed by his crazed behaviour. They reveal themselves to be witches. That some of the toys are fairies possessing constructs and that they purposefully, magically make bitter people appear in their homes to test their conviction. Should they pass, they are let go. Should they fail. Well remember when I said some of the dolls are fairies? Well the rest are those who also fail their test. As shown when Ralph turns into a replacement for the broken Mr. Punch.
Morning comes and Ralph and Judy regain consciousness. Gabriel and Hillary convince them that the events last night were all a dream and that David, Rosemary, Isabell and Enid have left while they were out cold. Judy believes it, but Ralph is skeptical. They get Ralph's car out of the mud and task him with taking Judy home to her mother. Before she leaves, she finds her Teddy Bear in Ralph's car, believing that he came back on his own out of loyalty. Instead of keeping him, Judy let's the Hartwicks keep him so that he'd have other toys to play with. They leave and Judy hints that she wants Ralph to marry her mother, so she can be his step daughter.
The last shot are David, Rosemary, Enid and Isabel all quivering in fear in their new doll forms. Even Death not stopping their punishment. All the while a new family gets stuck in the mud.
The movie is probably one of the strangest, yet greatest works I've ever seen of Stuart Gordon's. If not for the blood, gore and F-bombs, you'd think this was a horror movie that was fun for the whole family. And it also becomes a precursor to Gordon and Yuzna working on Honey I Shrunk The Kids 2 years later. Which also combined family friendliness with horror.
The film didn't do as well as his Lovecraft movies before, due to the blood and gore being toned down. However it received a cult following, by fans of his work. Before his death, Gordon wanted to do a sequel that followed up on the first movie. Which involved the Hartwicks somehow smuggling themselves to Judy's home as dolls. It's a shame really, I would have loved to see where this went. Though I'd love to see how the new Mr. Punch/David would be if they did. Would he be a protector or would he want revenge on Judy, Ralph and The Hartwicks?
Dolls also served as the template for many many killer doll movies and shows that came after, From Child's Play to Puppet Master. Yet unlike the Puppets who choose the side of their master good or bad and Chucky who is pure evil, for once it was refreshing to see the Dolls as the heroes this time.
I suggest you watch it. Also be good, for you never know. Your toys might be watching.
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