Just so...so bad

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

While Dolly Dearest is a far cry from a good movie, it's a far cry from a bad movie, likewise. One thing I need to warn you first and foremost: this film is light on the gore, and light on scares. Expecting either of the two? You will probably be disappointed. Surprisingly, the movie was actually quite entertaining, despite it's downfalls. And it has a few to mention. Mediocore acting. Cheesy 80's look, despite this being an early 90's film. The story? Engrossing, but very difficult to put into words at its flaws. Cliched. Very cliched. I mean, an ancient spirit is unleashed after an archeologist opens a door. No crate, no box to open, just a door protected us from this evil spawn of Satan....who, instead of possessing little girls like in The Exorcist, instead possess the bodies of tiny female dolls. Scary? Hardly. The film is actually quite humorous, where I laughed my butt off when one of the male characters is killed off, he pulls off his shirt, and awkwardly rubs his nipples as he dies. Weird. Very weird. Aside from the bad stuff, the good stuff makes up for the bad: Decent enough script ( ignore the logic, it IS, afterall, a horror movie), doesn't overstay its welcome, and a comical climax to end it all. Bottom ine: Dolly Dearest is no Childs Play, but it will remain somewhere in the middle of the spectrum for me. 5 out of 10 stars. Rest in peace, Mr. Bottoms. You were an underrated actor.

This is obviously a ripoff of Child's Play, but I don't mind that. I don't really mind movie rip offs - if they are entertaining. If they bring something cool to the table, I'm all in. Doesn't have to reinvent anything, but they have to be entertaining.Problem here is that the movie is kind of boring. It's not directly bad in quality. Budget is alright. It works alright. But it is just not much fun.I got this movie in a horror 4-pack, so my expectations weren't exactly sky high, but it still was too boring for my taste.It's not scary. The doll is alright, but never scary.You will have to be pretty damn crazy about killer doll-movies to find this interesting.It's a shame they didn't do more with it, they could have brought in some new, cool elements, but nope. Just a bland ripoff. And the Childs Play movies aren't even that great. I mean, Chucky is cool and all, but I was a little disappointed by them. At least the first couple. The "Chucky"-ones are better.

Following in the tiny (and lucrative) footsteps of killer doll hit Child's Play (1988), Dolly Dearest sees the spirit of a murderous Mayan demon freed from an ancient Mexican tomb to possess the dolls in the factory recently purchased by American family, The Wades (Sam Bottoms, Denise Crosby, Chris Demetral and Candy Hutson). But where Chucky, the diminutive star of Child's Play, was a brilliantly expressive creation designed by FX genius Kevin Yagher and voiced by the very talented Brad Dourif, 'Dolly' is just dull, a forgettable lump of plastic with zero personality.Furthermore, the script for Dolly Dearest is extremely derivative, not just content with ripping off Child's Play, but several other horror classics as well (there are shades of The Omen, The Exorcist and Poltergeist); the direction is also uninspired, leaving the reasonable cast struggling against the odds to make matters entertaining. The film might have proved more bearable with more and much gorier death scenes, but all we get are a bloodless electrocution and a guy having a heart attack (having had his hand pushed into a sewing machine). Oh, and the only half decent scares are courtesy of a stray cat that makes a habit of leaping out from behind the boxes in the factory.

I agree with the earlier review by Richard Wheeler: if you see this as a rerun of Child's Play you are not getting the gist of the film. The story centers on a classic horror device (one that I never get tired of) of pitting different realities against one another: the extinct Sanzia reality (the devil child spirit), the Mexican Catholic reality (nuns and candles), and the modern American reality (explosions). This occurs in relation to another classic device, the possessed doll -- although in this case the dolls derive more from Curse of the Doll People than from Child's Play. The story follows fairly predictable lines (the biggest twist: no sudden twist at the end -- thankfully!) but kept me entertained throughout. I also like Rip Torn in the older roles, and Denise Crosby was good. The child actors were also not annoying (and the little girl was on occasion pretty scary). The production designer also deserves kudos for the simple but effective crypt.My only complaint is that I could do without the animatronic doll faces, which were well enough done but not very original. Possessed dolls whose faces remain placid and serene are much scarier, plus they don't talk as much.