Fantastic Fest XX Review: In DOLLY, Get Out!

Rod Blackhurst’s new horror thriller, Dolly, takes the mantle as the latest film of its kind to have its main characters make all the mistakes they need to land in the hot water they find themselves in. Not that hot water is an issue here, although I’m surprised this film didn’t use this to construct a gag adding to the body count here.

Dolly is quick to notify viewers just how murky things are about to get with an introduction into the grim home interior of a deranged woman caring for a beheaded body in a room swarming with flies. From there, we meet burgeoning couple Chase (Seann William Scott), a father to a young girl from a seperate relationship, and Macy (Fabianne Therese), whose mind still runs at the idea of being an incumbent mother despite the chemistry being mostly good.

The two jettison out to the woods in hopes of a romantic getaway where it’s looking more likely that Chase is about to pop the question, but not before hiking about their seperate ways. This happens just as they’ve passed a wooded area where trees are mysteriously covered in creepy baby dolls, and, as if that weren’t bad enough, they’ve diverged from the main road. What could go wrong?

Welp, enter Dolly (Max The Impaler), a crazed, porcelain mask-wearing loon fixated on being a mother in her own right. She’s also packing some mean psycho strength and a shovel sturdy enough to whittle away at as much flesh as she needs to during the course of this onslaught.

I’ll leave out the thicker details but it’s not long before Chase is left crippled fighting for his life in the woods, as is Macy who winds up in captivity as Dolly’s plaything. As Macy struggles to survive long enough to find a way out, what she doesn’t know about the home she’s locked in, and the mysterious prisoner she hears in the walls, could very well determine her salvation, or imminent slaughter.

Dolly takes a stark psychological turn throughout this sick, twisted tale, unraveling the sordid history of a family with its own unresolved evil, and its ever-yearning biproduct. Ethan Suplee contributes with a performance that builds on its mythology, and amplifies the stakes for Macy while in her own turmoil.

I was more impressed by NWA champ Max The Impaler who, as far as I know, makes their film debut here with a character that seethes on screen. Dolly doesn’t say a word here, but Dolly definitely doesn’t need to, as far as communication goes. Mannerisms and physical expressions are all that’s required, whether through hand gestures, ramsacking, or basic manhandling are all that’s needed here, unless of course the shovel comes handy.

At a little over eighty minutes, I was impressed at how much Blackhurst was able to flesh out this deranged tale. Most of the film is contained midway, leaving it up to the actors, for the most part, to carry the film’s breakneck suspense. The rest of the grunt work comes courtesy of the film’s amplified gore and violence, which leaves you wondering just how the hell Chase managed to hold it together for as long as he did. Poor fella.

Legs get broken, throats get crushed, chests get punched through, faces get caved in, heads get severed, bodies get run over or defenestrated, and…AND, there are stabbings. Yes, in no uncertain terms, and if you love horror, Dolly is more than happy to keep you company.

Dolly enjoyed its World Premiere at the twentieth edition of Fantastic Fest.