Verdict
Summary
Too well lit to be a cool slasher, and too unpleasant to be any fun, House of Dolls is relentlessly mean with its killings, but there’s never any real suspense to make it worthwhile.
Plot:
A family reunion turns into a night of survival for three sisters who are being hunted by a masked killer.
Review:
A patriarch passes away, leaving a large inheritance for his three daughters, who all hate each other. There’s Diana (Alicia Underwood), Charlotte (Naomi Lopez), and Helen (Taylor Cox), and they each have their “ish” with their family legacy, and their grandmother Celine (Dee Wallace) thinks it’s a great idea that their father has come up with a novel idea to get these three young women to get along and reconcile: To spend a night in what amounts to a “dollhouse,” a sort of multi-tiered, many-roomed mansion that looks like it came from Barbie’s fab toy line. The place resembles a set for a reality TV show like Big Brother or whatever where people just lounge around, complaining about their lavish lifestyles. Anyway, so the three sisters agree to basically duke it out with verbal sparring sessions over the night, and one of them brings their boyfriend along, which sort of complicates matters. The thing is, though, that there’s a masked killer lurking around, killing people with various weapons: knives, axes, and various other tools. We know this because we see him in the first sequence of the movie where he viciously murders a couple walking along a hiking trail. Were these killings related to the plot? You’ll just have to wait and see. But this killer is no fun: He’s cruel, strong, and he’s got a one-track mind to eliminate everyone on his list, which includes all three sisters in the dollhouse. What’s his motive? You’ll see.
Too well lit to be a cool slasher, and too unpleasant to be any fun, House of Dolls is relentlessly mean with its killings, but there’s never any real suspense to make it worthwhile. The killer eventually is unmasked and his motives are (sort of) made clear, but it’s a problem when you don’t like the “final girl” or any of the other characters that get killed in merciless ways. Even poor Dee Wallace is dispatched in a wince-inducing scene that made me feel sorry for her as an actress, but not so much for her character, who didn’t stand a chance. I am a fan of slashers in general, but House of Dolls is just not something I’d ever want to watch again or recommend to even the most ardent fans of the genre. From director Juan Salas.
VMI’s recent Blu-ray release of House of Dolls comes with a filmmaker commentary, a “Halloween Special,” a cast and crew Q & A, a music video, and more.
