The Hot Spot Rating
Dolly Dearest (1992)
Cast: Denise Crosby, Sam Bottoms, Rip Torn, Chris Demetral, Candace Hutson, Lupe Ontiveros
Director: Maria Lease
Synopsis: The Omen meets Child’s Play, resulting in a hoot of a hybrid. Ludicrous, laughable, but never less than thoroughly enjoyable.
“It’s a lot better than Child’s Play III” – Pyschotronic Video Guide
“You thought Chucky was yucky – Creature Features
“An entertainingly creepy Child’s Play knockoff.”— retrospective horror review
“Dolly herself is genuinely unnerving.”— cult horror commentary
“One of the better post-Child’s Play evil-doll movies.”— modern genre reassessment
“The Mexican factory setting gives the film an unusual atmosphere.”— horror retrospective
“Ridiculous, derivative and surprisingly watchable.”— cult-film review
“The film embraces its absurdity with admirable sincerity.”— exploitation cinema commentary
“Dolly Dearest has enough weirdness to distinguish itself from the killer-toy pack.”— modern horror review
“The doll’s facial expressions remain nightmare fuel.”— horror fandom commentary
Dolly Dearest is a blatant Child’s Play rip-off with generous shades of The Omen thrown in for good measure. Shunning originality or subtlety altogether, the film dives headfirst into its absurd premise with relish and gusto, hitting its target perfectly with expectations set low for innovation but high for gloriously campy, entertaining horror of the most sumptuous kind. Subtlety and originality be damned — Dolly Dearest goes all in on the fun factor and succeeds in delivering relentlessly goofy entertainment in spades. Everything about the movie is overwrought and played with absolute deadpan seriousness, which only enhances its campy deliciousness to the hilt.
The opening scenes immediately set the tone with wonderfully cheap and hokey special effects as an excavator is mysteriously struck down within some sort of ancient tomb, which is subsequently transformed into a doll factory. A typical all-American family of four relocates to Mexico, hoping to strike it rich manufacturing beautiful dolls for the global market. The parents and their young children move into a plush new home complete with a local maid, but things soon begin taking an ominous turn after the young daughter brings home a doll from the factory itself.
Before long, the cherubic little girl is spending far too much time with Dolly, and soon enough there are ominous sounds of tiny pitter-pattering footsteps echoing around the house.
Borrowing shamelessly from The Omen, the child is taken to the local church for a blessing ceremony, only to turn feral as they approach, throwing a violent tantrum and absolutely refusing to leave the car.
The family maid — deeply religious and well-versed in local superstition — quickly suspects that something profoundly evil is attached to Dolly and the increasingly disturbing effect she is having on the child. Muttering prayers under her breath only causes the girl to seethe with rage, and Dolly soon strikes her first deadly blow, dispatching the troublesome maid in suitably electrifying fashion.
As the story progresses, the young girl becomes utterly inseparable from the doll, while her increasingly alarmed mother begins to realise that the obsession is spiralling into something far darker. The child grows nastier, more aggressive, and disturbingly volatile whenever anyone attempts to separate her from Dolly.
Dolly’s grip tightens steadily, and the family finds itself under mounting pressure as the doll’s influence over the child becomes all-consuming.
Dolly is now firmly in control, and the mother finds herself emotionally displaced as the dominant force within the household. Anyone foolish enough to interfere with Dolly soon suffers a terrible fate, and the body count begins to rise accordingly.
The question becomes whether Dolly will completely destroy the family and reign supreme, or whether Denise Crosby’s determined mother can fight back, reclaim her family, and rescue her daughter from the grip of pure evil.
Dolly Dearest plays everything entirely by the book, but it does so with enough gusto and verve to remain consistently entertaining. The evil doll scowls menacingly, behaves with gleeful nastiness, and wastes very little time getting down to the serious business of doing evil.
The film barrels swiftly towards its inevitable showdown and, while highly predictable, is rarely dull. Dolly herself is suitably fiendish, and the movie maintains a lively pace throughout its battle between good and evil.
For fans of evil doll movies, this is tremendous fun — perhaps more amusing than genuinely frightening, but entertaining all the same. If you enjoy your popcorn horror heavily seasoned with cheese, camp, and outrageous melodrama, you could do far worse than Dolly Dearest.
Highly recommended for those who like their horror served with a very heavy accent on the camp.
This Dolly, though splendidly silly, certainly has all the right moves!
