Paul Magne Haakonsen Being a fan of horror movies in particular and also being a big fan of Asian cinema, I bought this movie from Amazon and was sort of excited to watch it because it had gotten fairly good reviews, and the cover of the DVD looked appealing. And the cover also said "Exciting... An atmospheric terror story... A welcome addition to the genre of Asian horror." - So with those words and the movie's first impression, I popped it into the DVD player.The story was easy enough to follow, it just didn't really make any particular sense. There were a couple of glitches and holes here and there in the plot, which really made the movie come off less believable than intended. The overall plot is basically discarded dolls returning to life by some spirits and seeking vengeance on those who threw them away and needed them no more. Yeah, alright, not really much of a solid plot right there.As far as "The Doll Master" goes for scares, then there was none for me. But I am sure Asian people sitting down with the movie will be in for the odd shock here and there, because of the thing they have with the hair covering the face, lots of that trick being used in the movie. That never was scary to me though.The acting in the movie was adequate enough, though the main actress did put me off. She wandered around with a constant look of grand surprise and shock on her face, that really didn't work. It was like watching a female Asian version of Nicholas Cage here - one facial expression for every scene no matter if it was a sad scene, scary scene, funny scene, etc. That didn't' work well, and I think had they opted with another actress, that would have made it a tad more enjoyable. Don't get me wrong, her acting was fine enough, it was just her lack of facial expressions aside from the one that was glued on there.One of the best things about "The Doll Master" was the attention to detail. There was a lot of really nice touches to the house and the dolls in particular, in this movie. So that, at least, was working in favor of the movie. And the scene that worked out the best for me in the entire movie was the toilet scene. I will not spoil anything here and give away anything, just watch it.If you enjoy Asian horror movies, and have nothing better to do, you can give "The Doll Master" a go, though you will not be in for anything extraordinary or spectacular. And there are far better Asian horror movies available out there, both new and old movies. I wasn't impressed with this movie one bit, though I did sit through it from start till end.

chrichtonsworld The concept for this movie was quite good. But somehow the execution failed on many parts. There aren't many horror movies that I can think of that used dolls that looked so realistic. Especially when these dolls start blinking their eyes or moving hands. So much could have been done with this premise. There were a lot of scenes where there was room for tension and suspense. And I really was expecting creepy things to happen. But never did the movie managed to be scary. One of the main reasons is that the story is too minimal and predictable. I actually thought that they did this on purpose in order to surprise us with some wonderful twist. Sadly this doesn't happen. Well at least not in the way that I hoped for. The cast also failed to make it all believable. It would have been nice if more background was given on the characters. In the beginning when we get introduced to the main character. It seems that she and other characters are invited by some sort of artist. But it also is apparent that they don't have an idea themselves what they are invited for. Of course this is part of the mystery. But it does seem unlikely. If I got an invitation without having a clue what the deal is I simply would not go. Furthermore most characters aren't real likable with the end result that you never actually care for them. Another flaw is that the director deviates from the basic premise which is scary enough and brings up new elements that never get explained and aren't even relevant to the "Doll Master mystery". Overall this movie has been a big disappointment to me. If you want to see a good horror movie involving dolls go see "Dead Silence"!

blacksword83 It's quite simple that those who call this movie anything below "decent" do not know their cinema. "The Doll Master" creates a sense of dread and suspense rarely seen in movies outside of Asia.Think of a mixture of "Manga" and "Ringu" rolled into one and this is what its all about.First rate acting, first rate direction, first rate sets and effects.This is right up there with the best of Asian horror cinema; Ringu, Dark Water and A Tale of Two Sisters.An absolute must. Take it from a guy who knows his movies.

Fru_is_Insomniac Doll Master is an example of a lousy horror film, fallen somewhere in the space with it's two not so well established genres, a horror film and an emotional drama film. Seems like The Doll Master tries very hard to be a very scary horror film, but it fails. The noise of the dolls while moving is like taken from the croak of Kayako in Ju-On, and the crawls are like sadako esquire. The killing dolls will remember you a cute version of "Chucky". But compared to Child's Play, this film is more superb. But the story seems a nothing, the brilliant camera shots and the brilliance of acting was taken away cause of the plot.Don' watch this if you are expecting great shocks.