TheLittleSongbird 'Worry Dolls' drew me into seeing it, with a cool and creepy poster, an intriguing idea and as someone with a general appreciation for horror. That it was low-budget, which from frequent personal experience is rarely a good sign due to that there are so many poor ones out there, made me though apprehensive. Actually found 'Worry Dolls' fairly watchable, if not an easy film to rate or review. Had to think long and hard about what my thoughts were and how to articulate them. 'Worry Dolls' is not great, or good, has a fair share of problems (fairly big ones too) and doesn't do enough with its potential, which was hardly small. There are however some decent, even good, qualities in 'Worry Dolls', at least it wasn't intelligence insulting or inept (unlike some films seen recently) and the potential is not completely squandered.Lets start with the positives. The scenery is very atmospheric, likewise with the very nice way it's shot. The music is suitably spooky and quirky and doesn't distract at all from the atmosphere, while not exactly enhancing it. 'Worry Dolls' is another example of a film that started off very promisingly. There are some genuinely scary and suspenseful moments and the atmosphere has creepiness.However, the story does feel over-stretched and some of it feels vague, under-explained. The more 'Worry Dolls' progressed, the duller, more predictable, more senseless and less scary, and too many characters are too sketchy. Making the film feel bland and forgettable with not enough heart put into it.Acting is never amateurish, there has been far worse acting before and since, but nobody is good let alone note-worthy. Dialogue can be stilted while the pace is uneven, dragging in some of the second half. Found the supposedly shocking moments not so surprising or scary, due to the excessive obviousness and the lack of tension and suspense, and the end felt not much of a climax. In summary, not unwatchable but unremarkable. 4/10 Bethany Cox

TdSmth5 A girl is held captive in some abandoned building. She manages to free herself while her captor is somewhere praying while holding some creepy little figurines. When he hears the girl he puts the figures away in a box and cloth bag and goes chasing after her with his drill that has a giant bit reminiscent of The Slumber Party Massacre--one of my favorite movies. As she escapes the building, she runs into a cop who's looking for her. That allows our villain to put to drill to some very good use. But another cop shows up and kills him. Now this is a great intro! While the cops are in the car some scary lady appears demanding the cops give her box with the figurines. Of course it's evidence so they can't give it to her. Yet somehow the box ends up in the hands of the cop's daughter and estranged wife, who has some crafts store. The girl makes some pendants and bracelets with the creepy figurines which for some reason all the customer find so cool and by them all up right away. The girl keeps one of them though.Sure enough, one guy who gets a figurine pendant from his girlfriend goes nuts after becoming very pale at a convenience store and kills the worker there and is shot by the owner afterwards. Not only that, but he leaves a bloody sign painted in blood. This intrigues the cops because it's the sign that the serial killer from the intro used.Next, the cop's daughter goes pale and nuts and kills the beautiful family Rottweiler. She's then quickly taken to the hospital where the problem is initially attributed to her epilepsy.Then a family friend gives another figurine pendant to her husband who goes bonkers, kills the gardener and then attacks the wife just as the cop arrives. When the cop finds the figurine he decides to visit the crazy woman from before who wanted the box. Turns out she adopted the abandoned serial killer when he was a child. The figurines, or worry dolls or more accurately translated, sorrow dolls, come from Guatemalan lore and are designed to remove someone's sorrows and pains. Her grandparents were from Guatemala. But in the case of the serial killer since he was innocent and yet consumed with hate, the sorrow dolls ended up transmitting the hate. The solution is for the cop and his sidekick to collect all the dolls with the box and deliver them to her by dawn. He succeeds but there's a twist.Devil's Dolls won me over with the brutal intro. Unfortunately, it doesn't keep up the intensity probably for budgetary reasons. We could have used at least one more doll/killer/victim. For some reason it doesn't focus enough, literally, on the dolls. They are small and creepy but the camera doesn't zoom in at any point, and for some reason no one looks at them carefully, even though they are unusual and striking. The wonderful intro credit scene featuring sights of Mississippi plus the dolls themselves which have some wooden structure reminded me of the first season of True Detective. I found the script smarter than usual. It handles for instance the relationship between the cop, his (ex)wife, and her new guy very well. The background of the dolls is also interesting. Casting is strong, most of the ladies are attractive. Christopher Wiehl who multitasked as producer and writer as well, occasionally delivers an unconvincing performance as the detective.I found that this movie delivers more than most horror movies these days. And it's the stuff that I like--strong kills, a novel deeper story, it features a Rottweiler who can't escape the usual dog fate in movies. One nice touch is that the filmmakers thank the audience at the end for watching the movie, something I wonder why not more do. I highly recommend Devil's Dolls, it's better than the score here would lead you to believe.

Nigel P Opening with a promisingly bloody scenario of serial killer Henry murmuring his unstable anxieties into his slight collection of 'worry dolls', this film soon evaporates into comparative blandness. That's the problem with strong beginnings – the rest has then got to match up.Detective Matt who finally rids the world of Henry for some reason takes the 'worry dolls' with him in the back of his car. Why do something so unprofessional? So his young daughter Chloe can then inadvertently get hold of them, of course.'OMG, they're so coowaal', say the brightly smiling young things browsing 'Chloe's Collection' where she exhibits these and other home-made charms. Sadly, the spirit of Henry, instilled into these novelty items, causes whomever owns them to lose their minds and kill their loved ones.Chloe, who is afraid of dogs, stabs to death her family's Doberman (why does the family keep such a pet if the daughter is afraid of them?). She then, Exorcist-like, descends into a blank-eyed trance. Hunky Detective Matt seeks the help of occultist Della who says that as the pure innocent, Chloe needs to be relieved of the dolls – even though they are no longer in her possession. Della is played by Tina Lifford, who invests the part with such weird intensity, she may well be the most interesting character in the film. A shame that her inclusion is such a brief one.The rest of the cast, sad to say, including Christopher Wiehl as Matt (who co-wrote this) are not very interesting at all. It's impossible to sympathise with the Detective, whose daughter is, after all, possessed, because there is scant personality there. Likewise other characters, including those who pick up the various dolls and are therefore doomed fail to ignite much feelings of loss. Also, the suburban blandness of most of the locations stifles any atmosphere. A competent thriller with a few gallons of blood thrown in for good measure.

seanmcliberal I was going to give this flick a 4, but then realized I paid $6.99 on Amazon Fire TV to rent this shiz. Maybe that is what somewhat compelled me to take the time to review this movie. **Spoilers Galore*** The acting only becomes funny 3/4 of the film is once you realize how bad it's been the whole time. I encourage you to only watch this film if you are under the influence of substances. The casting was interesting. You have the butch cop side kick and the sorta dad-bod hottie cop dude walk around like they're in X-Files with their badges, guns, and handicaps on their belts everywhere they go. The male actor tries to go all Gerard Butler the whole time, but nobody is buying it. The killing scenes were not spectacular, which can always be somewhat redeeming for a horror flick with a poor plot and bad acting. Oh, and I forgot there are some possessed dolls. An angry black Guatemalan women goes completely cultural and talks about how they're worry dolls on steroids. This was unnecessary as it makes the serial killer's past role irrelevant. This movie wrecked a good hour and a half of my life. I would like not to type any further. In the end..I have read this movie to filth and written a troll-like review. Please enjoy the following feature.