Doll Graveyard (2005)

I am a big fan of Full Moon, I think one of the best examples of a fun B-horror movie is anything made by Charles Band, especially his older stuff. I haven't seen a whole lot of Full Moon's more recent movies, but from what I've read, Full Moon seems to have gone way downhill. Now, I didn't think Doll Graveyard was bad, it wasn't great but it certainly wasn't terrible either.I didn't notice a whole lot wrong with this movie except for the characters. For one, most of them are annoying and unlikeable, and second, the killers are all dolls, no bigger than your average doll either, and everyone acts like their being attacked by man-eating dragons. There was one part in the movie where one of the girls tries to hit one of the dolls from across the room when she could have very easily just walked over and kicked him. There are a few parts in the movie like this.Oh yeah, the ending...SPOILERS HEREWell they bury the dolls hoping that the evil spirit will be released from them... well, actually they just put them in the hole. You think they would bury them but nope they just stand there and stare at them.END OF SPOILERSOver all this was a decent but disappointing entry in Full Moon's rapidly growing collection of killer doll movies. Especially since earlier the same day I watched Ragdoll, another Full Moon killer doll movie, which kicks the crap out of this one.

Its still not quite as good as the Puppet Master series as it lacks the stop motion filming, but its a good premise. A merciless sadist of a father has his daughter bury her dolls and then buries her along with them. When a toy collector unearths one of the dolls, the dolls arise from the shallow grave as well as the vengeful spirit of the young girl.The execution, however, wasn't as good as it could have been. In one scene a girl's face is bitten and the wound is there before the doll can attack that spot. Some of the scenes get tossed around randomly. And the victims, despite being less than 10 feet away from the door, never actually get around to running out the door. The final confrontation is clunky and so is the manner in which they stop the dolls.If you like animated dolls in these films, its worth a short watch as its run time is just a little over an hour.

Weirdo teen loner Guy Fillbrook (a solid performance by Jared Kusnitz) discovers a set of handmade dolls buried in his backyard. Said dolls come to life to protect Guy from the harassment of local bullies. Director Charles Band, working from a hopelessly inane script by August White, fails to generate much in the way of either tension or spooky atmosphere, but does take the silly premise seriously, maintains a snappy pace throughout, and stages the gory doll attack set pieces with considerable flair (one dude gets stabbed right where it hurts most while another fellow has one of his eyes gouged out). The competent cast struggle gamely with the asinine material: Gabrielle Lynn as Guy's bitchy sister Deedee, Kristyn Green as the foxy, but catty Olivia, Anna Alicia Brock as the cute and sweet Terri, Brian Lloyd as the mean and obnoxious Rich, and Scott Seymour as amiable hunk Tom. The dolls are pretty nifty and creepy. District 78's alternately melodic and pulsating shuddery score does the shivery trick. Tom Calloway's sharp cinematography gives the picture an impressive polished look. The tight 71 minute running time ensures that this movie never gets dull or overstays its welcome. Best of all, this flick is so damn goofy and ridiculous that it supplies a wealth of major unintentional belly laughs. A real tacky riot.

Clocking in at approximately 1 hr and 11 minutes, "Doll Graveyard" is nothing more than an hour and a half television special minus the commercials.In Los Angeles in 1911, a young girl and her incredibly eerie and ugly dolls fall victim to her over-zealous father who for some reason doesn't want her playing in the hallway.Fast forward to Los Angeles in 2005, and a new family has moved into the property. A single father, his incredibly nerdish son and bratty daughter. The father goes out on a date, the daughter invites friends, the son finds one of the dolls in the backyard. They come to life and protect the kid, as the spirit of the girl tries to inhabit him, as the dolls go on a murderous rampage against the daughter and her friends.Full Moon Entertainment is probably best known for their highly successful "Puppet Master" movies, and "Doll Graveyard" is like "Puppet Master"-light. It's missing the story, the character development and it's way too short to make you care about anyone. Not to mention the fact that they discover the first body almost immediately, yet no one runs out of the house.If you got a little time to kill, pop in this film. It's nothing great by any means of the imagination, but it's a good way to mindlessly kill a little bit of time.