DOLLY
***
Directed by Rod Blackhurst.
Starring Fabianne Therese, Max The Impaler, Seann William Scott, Ethan Suplee.
Horror, US, 84 Minutes
Reviewed as part of FrightFest Halloween 2025
It is hard not to be reminded of a certain iconic 1970’s horror film from the moment DOLLY starts with its hulking, mute, masked antagonist behaving in an odd, near childlike manner in a dilapidated house in the countryside. The similarities do not end there, with a filmic look that hearkens back to the 70’s with its grainy and scratchy film look, to give it that old grindhouse vibe. Set very much in the present however, Rod Blackhurst does manage to deliver an old-school rural slasher that eventually treads more interesting ground as it goes along.
The titular character is the aforementioned monstrous villain at the centre of it all here played by non-binary wrestler Max The Impaler. Dressed in a dirty, childlike dress and using an oversized creepy doll’s head as a mask, Dolly wants nothing more than to nurture her maternal instinct, which she attempts to do by kidnapping Macy (Fabianne Therese), a woman hiking through the vast forest with her boyfriend Chase (Seann William Scott). Encountering Dolly after discovering her unnerving way with using dolls heads to decorate the forest, Macy soon realises that she will have to play along with Dolly’s sick fantasy of raising a child, while she tries to figure out an escape.
With such a slim plot you would hope that the film has some tricks up its sleeve, but that is sadly not the case here. What you see is what you get. Although the design of Dolly herself is nicely realised, along with the rest of the film's art design that captures the early 70’s feeling, there is no real motivation or backstory that can hook us in as to why she is doing what she is doing. It could be argued that Blackhurst is examining the fraught relationships that can often turn up between mothers and daughters, something that is mentioned early on in regards to Macy. It feels however that Blackhurst is more interested in getting to the next stomach turning set-piece than concentrating on such character detail.
While this aspect is unexplored, what little of it that is there does lend itself well to the grotesque goings on. There are a number of practical effects that don’t skimp on the gore and blood and there are a couple of other interesting and unexpected story beats that hold the interest. Clocking in at just over seventy-five minutes before the end credits begin rolling, DOLLY does not overstay its welcome, and manages to pull off a satisfactory ending that is haunting and unnerving in a way that is more affecting than anything that has come before. With a sequel already being worked on, here is hoping that Blackhurst can deliver more of these elements to deliver something more unique and interesting next time.
Iain MacLeod