Dolly Dearest (1991)

Dolly Dearest is a very fun old school early 90s Horror & it's so cool, i loved it ever since i had it on ex-rental video & it did scare me back then lol but hey in was a kid!!! I do have alot of Nostalgia for this little killer doll film but it generally is a good well made movie. I love the very early 90s opening scene with those old FX & great music, this is such a fun little fantasy Horror & it's very comforting seeing a familiar face in this & that's the great RIP TORN (Z from Men In Black) he's not the lead role but he is in it alot & becomes a main characters, he's an archaeologist & the best Character in the movie!!! The main character is the mum of the little girl who is getting possessed by an evil spirit in the doll,the mum played by DENISE CROSBY gives an excellent panicky stressed performance & truly is a fantastic actress!!! The Doll is very scary & creepy & when she gets angry TERRIFYING lol. Takes me right back to the 90s watching these types of fun Horror movies & Dolly Dearest is one of my favourites!!! Makes perfect fun late night entertainment with good creepy music & very well filmed with some great scenes especially some of the old factory scenes. This has alot of supernatural elements mixed with drama & Horror & is really well made despite being a small budget film & the doll FX are excellent!!! I actually enjoyed Dolly Dearest more than the Childs play films & yeah i grew up watching those too but Dolly just has a sense of fun & Mystery to it like the young boy investigating into to the old tomb & the excellent Rip Torn teaming up with the boy to investigate is all good fun & the whole setting in Mexico in the middle of nowhere & the old doll factory that the dad has brought,there's so many fun moments & just good scenes with some goofy comedy too!!! So yeah out of all the killer doll genre i enjoy Dolly Dearest the most, great creepy fun

A lot of "Dolly Dearest" seems like a "Child's Play" ripoff, with a doll possessed by an evil spirit. In this case, the evil spirit comes from an ancient cult in Mexico, and the doll starts controlling the girl who owns it. Most of the movie is pretty predictable but still entertaining.As is often the case with horror flicks, the cast creates some interesting connections. A noticeable cast member is the recently deceased Lupe Ontiveros as the housekeeper. She played a number of roles over the years; one of her notable roles was that of the woman scorned by Jack Nicholson early on in "As Good as It Gets". The mom is Denise Crosby, aka Bing's granddaughter and best known as Tasha Yar on "Star Trek: The Next Generation"; it seemed as though her character is supposed to look like Marilyn Monroe or Grace Kelly or someone like that. The dad is Sam Bottoms, best known as Lance in "Apocalypse Now". The archaeologist is Rip Torn, most recently known as the chief in the "Men in Black" movies. Crazy stuff.So, it's basically some cheap entertainment. Still an OK choice for Halloween.

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.

When I borrowed this from a friend, he said that it was "just a stupid little movie that you could watch, if you didn't take it seriously... at all". Well, I must say, he was absolutely right. This film has no redeeming qualities whatsoever... it's just bad. The very idea is so stupid that it's no wonder that this was an independent film... I can't imagine a studio that would be so overbearing that it would fund a film like this. I have seen some bad horror films in my time, but this is just... it's hard to put into words just how bad it is. The plot is stupid and lame. The pacing is horrible. How can 90 minutes go by so slowly? The acting is awful with no exceptions. And I do mean awful. Not one single character is convincingly acted. Even Rip Torn, the one name on the cast list that is actually a recognizable actor, does a bad job in this. I'm going to have to assume that it's the quality of the direction that is to blame for this, as Rip does a fine job in everything else I've seen him in. The characters are poorly written and not even the least bit credible. They are paper-thin, stereotypical and clichéd as well. The dialog is poorly written, and can be divided into two sections, both equally bad. The first is all the standard dialog that you hear in all of these half-cooked horror films... the clichéd stuff. "Something is in there!" "It will kill again!" Stuff like that. The second is dialog made up to sound smart... most of this is said by the character of the son. This is something the writer put in to appeal to teenagers that see the film... which is a problem, because the son character is supposed to be an inquisitive, book-smart, intelligent kid. So it doesn't fit very well to have him say "dude" and "cool" in-between his smart lines. The doll was about as scary as a visit at grand-ma's... and that's being generous. The film has very few, if any, genuine scares or shocks. The premise is unoriginal. The only real reason to see this is to laugh at the pure ridiculous nature of it. The number of clichés, the amount of stupidity in the production, the ludicrous script, the lack of creativity... it can't be properly described. If you have a chance to do so for free, see it for yourself and you'll see what I mean. An unremarkable film that is only worth spending time on if you, like me, want to compare horror films(particularly bad ones). No one should have to spend money on seeing it, though, unless they are crazy about "killer doll" horror films. I recommend it only to people belonging in one of the two aforementioned groups. No one else. 1/10