🩸🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed by Rod Blackhurst.
Truth be told Dolly is a pretty boring affair. That said, the film is punctuated with some pretty exceptional pieces of gore — including one moment that may not have ever been laid down on celluloid.
Dolly is Texas Chainsaw-lite, without the family. In part, what makes every variant of the Texas Chainsaw so terrifying is the fact that you never know which member of the family is going to come your way. Leatherface has been dispensed? Here comes the hitchhiker! Grandpa’s too feeble? Here comes the old man!
Dolly, however, is largely focused on Dolly. If you’ve seen the trailer, you know that she brings the same weird gesticulations and confusion as Leatherface. She also brings his same animal-like growls and wheezing. No dialogue just oddly chaotic pantomiming.
The film follows a young couple about to set out for a romantic hike in the woods. Chase (Seann William Scott) has a young daughter from a prior relationship, but his beau Macy (Fabianne Therese) appears to be the perfect stepmom. Fully cognizant of this emerging daughter/stepmom bond, Chase chooses the weekend hike as the ideal opportunity to propose to Macy.
As the two set out for their languid hike, they are immediately presented with a trail system that is positively littered with dolls. Not GI Joe. Not Cabbage Patch. Weird dolls. Spooky porcelain dolls from eons ago. Sort of a pawn shop Christo.
Who’s the owner of this peculiar art installation covering the outdoors? Dolly, of course.
Almost immediately, Dolly attacks Chase and Macy. She nearly severs Chase’s head and abducts Macy. Macy is awakened in Dolly’s ramshackle house freshly dressed in doll-like clothing. Dolly has taken on Macy as her child and she’s now part of the “family.”
Early in the film, it’s disclosed the Dolly’s mother has been decapitated, and much like Ed Gein, she’s incredibly distraught at the idea of losing her mother. The dolls and collection of human body parts become her trauma response to this loss.
Macy is unfortunately caught in this wild web of psychological reckoning, and must content with Dolly and any remaining family members, or forever be Dolly’s doll.
What the film gets right
Dolly is an exceptional looking film. Many films try to mimic the grainy and gritty aesthetic of the Texas Chainsaw massacre, but fail miserably. The washed out patina. The yellowed film stock. The perfectly placed tramlines and scratches. It’s all there, and it’s done exceptionally well.
Interestingly, the director, Rod Blackhurst (Night Swim) also chooses — not unlike the Texas Chainsaw Massacre — to set the film entirely in the daylight. The odd difference is that the film is set deep in a lush wooded area, as opposed to the sun-baked landscape of rural Texas. It’s a good choice, but one that doesn’t hold the same dire resonance.
In addition to the service of grindhouse grit, Blackhurst also takes on some really exceptional practical effects. They’re gross, not too bloody, and they will definitely have you rethinking the idea of a mother nursing. Not too mention, Dolly as a 6’ 3” behemoth, with a mask that would make Slipknot proud, is a menacing sight to behold.
What the film gets wrong
As previously mentioned, Dolly really is a literal metaphor for Leatherface, without the family. Texas Chainsaw didn’t developed the tagline “The Saw is Family” for no reason. It’s what makes the film tick. The idea that there is one screwball psychopath out there, let alone five or six, is what creates the unending dread and doom.
Additionally, there are no other subplots or narrative devices that are explored in the relatively short run time. It’s just Macy. Vs. Dolly. Can she escape? Can she escape again? Can she escape a third time? Eventually the boredom does set in with the film’s rinse, wash, repeat approach to Macy’s quest to get back to Chase — or what’s left of him.
Make no mistake, Dolly definitely has some good qualities, but it’s boorish pace, lack of story, the relatively unexplored nature of the mother/daughter relationship, all make for a film that will surely leave audience pining for more.
Dolly is Rated R and currently streaming on Shudder.