Devil Doll (1964)

So much average

Don't Believe the Hype

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This film was shown on the cult riffing television show, Mystery Science Theater 3000 and was most likely the only way I was ever going to see this film about a strange doll and his master. Bryant Haliday plays the ventriloquist/hypnotist in this one and he would also star in the film, "The Projected Man" which would also be lampooned by MST3K and was another film where things just did not turn out so well for him. The poor guy just could not catch a break. The film is not a totally horrible film as many films that are featured on MST3K are, but it is not really that good either. It is a case of rather good premise that really does not live up to its full potential as too many times things that make the film more interesting or would help it be more entertaining are either not really long scenes or left out entirely in lieu of scenes that really go no where and make the film a bit duller than a film featuring a killer ventriloquist dummy should be! How many times did we need to see the female lead in the film in her hospital bed? I would much rather of seen a more backstory on the Great Vorelli or more creepy Hugo stalking the halls.The story of the film has a man calling himself The Great Vorelli who has a show where he hypnotizes people and then for the finale argues with his ventriloquist dummy and insults it. As bad as this show sounds, it looks a lot more enjoyable than Dr. Carlo Lombardi's act in "She Creature" (another MST3K riffed film). All that guy did was ask his assistant questions and then shout, "The monster is coming!" when the show was losing its steam. In this film a man wants to do a story on the Great Vorelli and gets his fiancé or girlfriend to volunteer which turns out to be a big mistake. As Vorelli puts the moves on this girl, the newspaper man gets a strange visit, not from the Great Vorelli, but from Hugo, the ventriloquist doll! This was a rather funny episode of MST3K as it was just a good movie to work with though it was not necessarily a bad film. Granted, William Sylvester was kind of bad in it (the newspaper guy). His reactions just are not very good. When a ventriloquist dummy walks into his room he responds in a way that is less shocked and more like, "Why are you here at this hour?" Several times he seems to not react well to what is going on around him and MST3K calls him out on it. The jokes about the act and the whole arguing are good as well. The bumps are pretty funny too with the highlight coming when Tom becomes a toaster strudel.So it is not a super terrible film, but it just did not work for me. Bryant Haliday does a fine job in this one as he did as Paul in the Projected man, but William Sylvester was very bland. Surprising considering he was the more famous of the two men. I kind of wonder if the orange hair that Haliday sported in the "Projected Man" was his natural color because if so, then this film would have been thoroughly more disturbing in color! In the end, I cannot help but feel sorry for Bryant Haliday. In this film he ends up breaking up with his partner and then he would move on to projecting things and that would end up even worse for him!

and it was the MST3K guys who got to it first.Okay, trying to relate to this film on its own merits. The Great Vorelli is a hypnotist who puts the spirit of a young German boy into a dummy, but has a hard time controlling him while trying to seduce his way to a meal ticket rich British chick.In some ways, this proceeds the classic "Magic" with Anthony Hopkins as a whole "Ventriloquist's dummy goes horribly wrong" theme. Is it worth watching? Not really. It stuffs 30 minutes of plot into a 90 minute film.I realize that IMDb is a British site, but are you people just easier to scare than Americans? This movie wasn't scary at all!

Hey, what's with the ridiculously low and miserable rating of not even 3 out of 10? I ventured into this film without checking its title page on IMDb, which is something I rarely ever do, but now I'm glad, otherwise I probably would have passed an missed out on a fairly engaging, original and chilling little 60's gem. Perhaps the low rating is linked to the fact that this is another film that undeservedly received the feared and notorious MST3K-treatment, which tends to hugely influence viewers opinions, but it really isn't such a bad film albeit admittedly a bit derivative and suffering from a lack of budgetary means. But at least the film is atmospheric. Like clowns, ventriloquist dummies have some sort of uncanny aura surrounding them and the more you look at them, the scarier they become. Director Lindsay Shonteff ("The Million Eyes of Sumuru") clearly realized this as well, because he stuffed his film with extended still shots of dummy. It's strangely unsettling because you're staring at something lifeless, yet you somehow feel like he's staring back at you. The script of "Devil Doll" also centers on another eerie surreal phenomenon apart from ventriloquism, namely hypnotism. The Great Vorelli has a successful act where he hypnotizes people on stage and then ends with his dummy Hugo, a dummy that can not only talk and pull menacing grimaces, but also walk all by himself! The skeptical journalist Mark English is intrigued with the act, and whilst he's trying to unravel the mystery of Hugo's ability to walk, Vorelli has set his mind on conquering the heart and soul of Mark's enchanting fiancée Marianne, whether she wants to or not. The revelation of the mysterious dummy's secret is ingenious and I don't think I've seen this type of twist in any other movie ever before. The acting performances are good, notably Bryant Haliday's sinister role of the Great Vorelli is memorable, there's a constant atmosphere of tension and Hugo is one scary Pinocchio! If you come across this film, please do ignore the bashing reviews and low scores and give it a chance. It may be not nearly as good as other wicked-dummy movies, like "The Great Gabbo" and the downright brilliant short segment in the horror anthology "Dead of Night", but it's unquestionably a worthwhile 60's horror effort.

I really liked this movie for several reasons. I thought that the special effects were very good for the time, 1964, the hypnotist was excellent. He played the part perfectly. It was a great story line. I think that the movie was under rated. The writer should have gotten special notice. Last but not least, when I first saw this movie I was 13 and my male hormones went nuts over the assistant who showed off her butt. The movie had a great atmosphere that I wish modern day movie directors would take notice of. There was no slash, no gore and no bad language. Instead of showing all the blood and guts of todays horror movies, they should take notice of movies like this.