daretostruggledaretowin The Doll Master is the directorial debut of South Korean director Yong- ki Jeong. It is a story in the House on Haunted Hill (1959) format whereby a wealthy eccentric invites a group of unwitting outsides to their manor for twisted reasons that they're less than upfront about.In this case the eccentric rich person is some sort of doll maker who adorns her house with creepy, life-sized dolls. Every room has some sort of doll in an unsettling pose. Of course, it isn't long before people start dying and you can guess the rest.This film was not entirely thrilling as it was a hackneyed, cliché premise and the acting and filming weren't entirely impressive either. Worth a watch if you're in for some light entertainment a la Steve Beck's remake Thir13en Ghosts (2001), but hardly an earth-shattering experience.This review originally appeared at http://paranoidcinephilia.blogspot.com

thomvic Have to say, the film has a lot of potential to be something really spooky but unfortunately resorts to the almost Hollywood like style sense of horror with the predictable deaths of its characters which makes this look more like a slasher film.It doesn't help that all the characters feel like card board cut outs - the annoying college girl, the annoying male, the uptight and serious guy, the awkward weirdo girl who can't be removed from her doll and our heroine who is sort of in the middle of everyone. They are all invited to a house so the owner can model dolls from their features and find well....there is more going on in this house than meets the eye - like you couldn't work that out for yourself.The film doesn't build up the suspense which would have been perfect considering there are so many creepy dolls in this house - but relies more on the cheap scare tactics which doesn't work at all here. And it is a pity considering the production design and the look of the film has so much to work with.If the director had seen A Tale of Two Sisters and tried to make that approach by slowly revealing things while still maintaining a sense of mystery instead of throwing it down your throat, this would have been a much better film but unfortunately, is on the same level as a teenager slasher film. Disappointing - has its nice moments but overall just as hollow as normal doll - all looks but nothing inside.

Samuli I have recently watched many j-horror movies and now i find this South Korean horror masterpiece and it really shows that South Koreans can also make good horror movies. I give this movie so high rate because i found it really distressing because of these frightening doll's. Many good ideas synthesise with good execution and result is this. This director really knows how to make distressing atmosphere. Normally i would rate this 8 but i give 1 plus point because this is so underrated.South Korea shows what's horror all about. I recommend this to all j-horror fans.

Fru_is_Insomniac Doll Master is an example of a lousy horror film, fallen somewhere in the space with it's two not so well established genres, a horror film and an emotional drama film. Seems like The Doll Master tries very hard to be a very scary horror film, but it fails. The noise of the dolls while moving is like taken from the croak of Kayako in Ju-On, and the crawls are like sadako esquire. The killing dolls will remember you a cute version of "Chucky". But compared to Child's Play, this film is more superb. But the story seems a nothing, the brilliant camera shots and the brilliance of acting was taken away cause of the plot.Don' watch this if you are expecting great shocks.