Sam Panico Six people are stranded at a mansion in the English countryside — David Bower and Rosemary Bower (Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, wife of Stuart Gordon), two totally selfish and uncaring parents, and their daughter Judy. Plus, we have nice guy Ralph and two British punk rock hitchhikers, Isabel (played by Bunty Bailey, who starred in two landmark music videos for the band A-Ha) and Enid.The mansion is owned by Gabriel and Hilary Hartwicke (Hilary Mason, the blind psychic from Don't Look Now), toy makers who fill their home with their creations. As Judy had to give up her old teddy bear by her evil stepmother, they give her a new doll, Mr. Punch.We soon discover that the dolls are alive and love to destroy humans — the eviler the better. The two girls try to steal antiques and get their faces smashed in and shot by toy soldiers before becoming dolls themselves. Rosemary is attacked by the dolls, then leaps out a window to her death. Her body is brought back to the house, leading David to believe Ralph is a killer.Meanwhile, Judy reveals to Ralph that the dolls are alive and talks them into saving his life. David attacks, knocking out his daughter and the man he blames for his wife's death, but the dolls save them. Mr. Punch battles David but is destroyed.The old owners of the house reveal themselves and explain that the house tests people. Either they pass — like Ralph and Judy. Or they fail, like everyone else, and are turned into dolls. It just depends on who believes in the power of childhood. David now becomes Judy's new doll, Judy picks Ralph to be her new dad and she leaves for home.Meanwhile, we see all the evil folks as dolls on the shelf as new people get stuck outside the house and the cycle begins again.Dolls is a Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Castle Freak) film and feels like a test run for the Demonic Toys movies. There are some moments of great invention, like the giant evil teddy bear and the eyeballs popping out of the punk girl. It was a theatrical release that actually didn't do well, but found new life on video — where a young version of my wife found it and rented it just about every day.Read more at https://bandsaboutmovies.com/2017/09/25/dolls-1987/

joshfedderson This a classic 80's movie, the effects and everything speak 80's like none other. Here is the story, a man and woman and their little girl are taking a vacation their car ends up stuck in the mud because of a violent storm that happens. The three end up at an old creepy house that some old couple owns, the old couple welcomes them in and introduces themselves as Gabriel and Hilary Hartwicke, Gabriel is a toy maker, specifically for dolls. The little girl Judy is thrilled to be in a house where there are so many toys.Eventually, three other people show up at the house two women, who I suppose are hookers or prostitutes? And a man who seem nervous and jumpy the two women's names are Isabel and Enid, and the mans name is Ralph. The old couple also welcomes them in and shows them where they will be staying the night. Everybody settles down, but that's when things start to get creepy. Isabel, wants to steal things from these people. So, she ventures out at her friends protest and starts snooping around. Suddenly she is attacked by unknown things, they kill her and drag her to the attic. Eventually, the little girl Judy tries to convince everyone that "little people" attacked Isabel, but no one believes the little girl, except the nervous man Ralph. The two discover that the collection of dolls the old man has made, come to life and kill people. All hell breaks lose when the dolls kill Enid, and Judy's step mother Rosemary. As things go on, it is found out that Gabriel and Hilary are magical toy makers and it's because of them that these dolls do what they do. Everyone is killed, except David the dad who is turned into a doll himself. The little girl Judy and Ralph are allowed to leave, as the movie ends we see David, Rosemary, Enid, and Isabel all made dolls and are now part of Gabriel and Hilary's collection. As the credits roll, we see a vehicle drive up in front of the house with another family in it, it is assumed that they go through the same hell as the previous group of people. This movie was fun, and as an 80's horror movie it does deserve credit for what it brought. The dolls were fantastic and it makes me appreciate the hard work the film makers had to go through to bring them to life. The Cast did a great job, especially the little girl Carrie Lorraine who played Judy Bower well. I really enjoyed the old creepy couple Gabriel and Hilary Hartwicke they were the best in the show in my opinion. Guy Rolfe and Hilary Mason do an excellent job. I give Dolls a 9, because I felt more could have been brought to the story, the story was good, but it was movie that was rushed. It is only 77 minuets but with what they brought in the film it was not bad at all.Dolls gets a 9/10

Finfrosk86 Man, this is one cool movie!The little girl (Carrie Lorraine) is really good. The goofy-ish guy (Stephen Lee) is good, and actually quite funny. Some of his reactions made me laugh. (I'm a tough crowd) Bummed me out to see that he died last year. Sad. The gray haired couple are really good. The effects are pretty decent for the most part. The pacing is great. It's one of those movies who doesn't show it's entire bag of tricks at once, but spreads it out through the movie. It is actually a little scary too, specially in a couple scenes. Simply put: it is a well made, entertaining horror movie. It is not boring for a second, and you keep wanting to see what happens next. Also it has some heart, despite being an 80's horror movie. Very nice. Classic, I'd say.

MartinHafer dad and step-mother too one-dimensional and annoying--like caricatures--same with the new wave girls great stop-motion "Dolls" is not the sort of movie I usually watch. I am not a huge horror film--particularly if the movies are bloody and violent. However, I am glad I saw the film--it was a lot better than I had imagined. Now I am not saying it was a great film--it had a lot of problems. But, the overall film was quite enjoyable...and creepy.The film is a story about six people who are stranded in the middle of no where during a bad storm. They all seek refuge in a strange house which is filled with dolls as well as a seemingly kindly old man and his wife. However, during the night, the dolls in the house come to life. For the bad people, they will distribute punishment and to the good, they will come to no harm. Unfortunately for these people, most of them are pretty bad and in need of retribution! The special effects and scary story are the best things about this film. Using 1980s technology instead of CGI, the dolls seem to come to life through traditional stop-motion. But, considering they are supposed to be dolls, it works really well. But the film also suffers BADLY from some of the most one-dimensional and stupid characters you could imagine. Yes, you want to see bad people punished, but these folks were so obviously bad that they seemed more like caricatures than real people. I think the word 'subtle' would certainly not be used to describe these folks!! Had the bad folks been better written, the film could have been much better. It's odd, though, that everyone else in the film seemed well written and likable--even the old man and lady. Well worth seeing and enjoyable if you don't mind the gore and can look past the occasional writing lapses.