Just No ***spoilers*** This movie just was awful. It had potential in the story line, but the absence of now how ruined it. My daughter is a connoisseur of "appropriate" horror, she loves all manners of ghost shows and movies, sometimes I get tired of watching "Goosebumps" so if we find a Pg-13 movie that is purely supernatural and no blood we watch it together. I let her pick this one, because she "loves" creepy doll stories. Oh how I wish I could just get that hour-whatever back. You never know just how important good lighting techniques, competent scriptwriting, wardrobe, location and makeup is. The main character was believable, the rest were extremely weak. I'm not sure how this rated so high, even on the Indie forums- "trying" to make a good movie and having good intentions is not really the same at all as actually succeeding at making a decent film. Even Indi film need to be engaging, have strong plots lines and definite character developments and not assault the eyes with the impression your cousin filmed this with his 90's era camcorder, which consequently may have a higher quality camera installed on it than what was used This film has none of these absolutely necessary aspects.
Lets break this down in to Pros & Con's:
Pros: The female lead was actually good enough to move into the real Indie film-acting world. She is they type of person you might see in Shark vs. Eagle, Dear Lemon Lima or Napoleon Dynamite.
The tensions between the ex girlfriend and the new wife are excellent- it is actually believable, in fact there were points that were so uncomfortable between the two that I was getting irritated. The ex and the husband were really very inappropriate and uncomfortable in realistic ways.
The doll story was interesting, there was real potential in the main back-story.
The end was satisfying. That philandering woman had it coming to her in all sorts of ways.
Cons: The camera quality was horrendous, like it was recorded on someone's Casio, with no extra lighting.
Why did these people have absolutely no furniture in their homes? No one in that economic condition really live like that Obviously it was directed at lower middle class American culture, yet, it looked like it was filmed at a partly furnished rental.
Really unprofessional scripting that made simple conversations sound forced.
The wardrobe was provided by Wal-Mart's $5 summer sale- wardrobe is as essential to the mood of a movie as the music or a creepy doll. Many producers use colors to foreshadow- think the red door, balloon, etc in the Sixth Sense.
The locations were unpolished, like if a friend and I took my phone out to a school to film. I understand wanting to capture that "normal" feeling but it just came across as weird and uncomfortable.
The unpolished doll story was WAY too weak. The beginning of the movie should have started out with some cut scenes of the abuse that took place, the dolls power over her, how it was really the only thing that comforted her, her strong relationship with grandma.
The doll story was supposed to be terrifying, or maybe some kind of a psychological thriller, but it fell so flat. It should have saturated the entire film from beginning to end- like have the main character at the beginning talking to her "creepy doll" while she was hiding from her abusive mother. We really need to get the impression early on that the doll is supernatural, not just ugly.
I was more scared of the husband having an affair with his ex than I was of the doll.
The buildup came too late in the film, really it should have been building up from the beginning that is what people like about horror, and people like that slow build up a terrifying climax.
Use some music cues to push the viewers emotional responses towards you goals- think Jaws on a spooky level. Even laying tracks during scenes like the school where she thought she was seeing weird things happening would have been very effective. If you cant get rights, then use well made midi tracks.
The theme music for the doll, what the grandmother sang so long ago---it was weird, but not creepy weird, just "Dead Goose Song Weird."
Part of the allure of using children's song in horror movies are that they exploit our weakness of innocence, singing a song about a dead goose, just makes me want to eat Christmas dinner .it's not like Ring around the Rosy or Mary had a little lamb. And they could have used the song, but leave out the words and just have a five year old hum it in their cute little high voice.
The magic is that when you combine innocence with darkness you get the uber creepy effect.
The story was good; her ascent into madness could have been better documented over a longer period of time.
The Doll should have had better framed screen time, they could have used flashbacks; they could have used a lot of techniques that they just didn't.
I feel like I watched something college kids tried really hard to make. It's not Hollywood and I didn't expect that. it's not a 10 million dollar movie- I don't think budget was the issue, I think knowledge of how to use lighting, script writing, appropriate scenery and other descriptive useful techniques is where it fell flat on its face.
Sorry, would not recommend, hopefully this director will implement different well known techniques in the next film.
Lets break this down in to Pros & Con's:
Pros: The female lead was actually good enough to move into the real Indie film-acting world. She is they type of person you might see in Shark vs. Eagle, Dear Lemon Lima or Napoleon Dynamite.
The tensions between the ex girlfriend and the new wife are excellent- it is actually believable, in fact there were points that were so uncomfortable between the two that I was getting irritated. The ex and the husband were really very inappropriate and uncomfortable in realistic ways.
The doll story was interesting, there was real potential in the main back-story.
The end was satisfying. That philandering woman had it coming to her in all sorts of ways.
Cons: The camera quality was horrendous, like it was recorded on someone's Casio, with no extra lighting.
Why did these people have absolutely no furniture in their homes? No one in that economic condition really live like that Obviously it was directed at lower middle class American culture, yet, it looked like it was filmed at a partly furnished rental.
Really unprofessional scripting that made simple conversations sound forced.
The wardrobe was provided by Wal-Mart's $5 summer sale- wardrobe is as essential to the mood of a movie as the music or a creepy doll. Many producers use colors to foreshadow- think the red door, balloon, etc in the Sixth Sense.
The locations were unpolished, like if a friend and I took my phone out to a school to film. I understand wanting to capture that "normal" feeling but it just came across as weird and uncomfortable.
The unpolished doll story was WAY too weak. The beginning of the movie should have started out with some cut scenes of the abuse that took place, the dolls power over her, how it was really the only thing that comforted her, her strong relationship with grandma.
The doll story was supposed to be terrifying, or maybe some kind of a psychological thriller, but it fell so flat. It should have saturated the entire film from beginning to end- like have the main character at the beginning talking to her "creepy doll" while she was hiding from her abusive mother. We really need to get the impression early on that the doll is supernatural, not just ugly.
I was more scared of the husband having an affair with his ex than I was of the doll.
The buildup came too late in the film, really it should have been building up from the beginning that is what people like about horror, and people like that slow build up a terrifying climax.
Use some music cues to push the viewers emotional responses towards you goals- think Jaws on a spooky level. Even laying tracks during scenes like the school where she thought she was seeing weird things happening would have been very effective. If you cant get rights, then use well made midi tracks.
The theme music for the doll, what the grandmother sang so long ago---it was weird, but not creepy weird, just "Dead Goose Song Weird."
Part of the allure of using children's song in horror movies are that they exploit our weakness of innocence, singing a song about a dead goose, just makes me want to eat Christmas dinner .it's not like Ring around the Rosy or Mary had a little lamb. And they could have used the song, but leave out the words and just have a five year old hum it in their cute little high voice.
The magic is that when you combine innocence with darkness you get the uber creepy effect.
The story was good; her ascent into madness could have been better documented over a longer period of time.
The Doll should have had better framed screen time, they could have used flashbacks; they could have used a lot of techniques that they just didn't.
I feel like I watched something college kids tried really hard to make. It's not Hollywood and I didn't expect that. it's not a 10 million dollar movie- I don't think budget was the issue, I think knowledge of how to use lighting, script writing, appropriate scenery and other descriptive useful techniques is where it fell flat on its face.
Sorry, would not recommend, hopefully this director will implement different well known techniques in the next film.
