"The Haunted Dollhouse" (aka "Devil Dolls") was a typical Charles Band production, with that typical mid-eighties feel to it as there always is to Charles Band's movies.
This is an anthology of three stories that deal with dolls in one way or another.
The first story is titled "The Protectors" and is about an Italian folklore legend about skull-faced elementals who guard a castle. This was actually the best of the three stories, and that doesn't really count for much, because this story wasn't particularly interesting. A group of thieves who pretend to be movie-makers gain access to an old castle in order to loot it for valuables, but come face to face with these skull-faced protectors. Right, well the story was adequate, but then you see these protectors who look like Papier Mâché-face puppets, who can shot energy rays from their eyes and is capable of turn the dead into zombies.
Then it got worse with story number two, titled "Worry Dolls". This was about girls locked up in some institute where both inmates and guards prey upon the weak. Some small, innocent-looking, children's toy known as worry dolls is given to a woman and they invade her body and enable her to do atrocious things to her inmates. Well, this story was just stupid and laughable. However, I will say that the effects in this one was actually the best of all three stories.
And finally it went from worst to horrible in the third and final segment titled "Dangerous Toys" who is about people shrunk down to doll size, one is a deluded police officer and the other is a stereotypical beach bimbo. This story just didn't make any sense at all, and I had to turn it off, because it was just horrible.
Charles Band have some fairly watchable and enjoyable movies to the list of produced movies, this "The Haunted Dollhouse" movie, however, was just awful and far from up to anything previous put out on the horror market by Charles Band.
You might find some kind of perverted enjoyment in this movie if you are a hardcore and die-hard fan of the unique (mid-eighties) style of Charles Band that seems to be present in every single movie of his. However, if you watch this to be entertained and scared, your money is better put elsewhere, because this movie does neither. I was really amused by the statement "A true trilogy of terror!" - I guess we all have very different and individual views of what terror is.
This is an anthology of three stories that deal with dolls in one way or another.
The first story is titled "The Protectors" and is about an Italian folklore legend about skull-faced elementals who guard a castle. This was actually the best of the three stories, and that doesn't really count for much, because this story wasn't particularly interesting. A group of thieves who pretend to be movie-makers gain access to an old castle in order to loot it for valuables, but come face to face with these skull-faced protectors. Right, well the story was adequate, but then you see these protectors who look like Papier Mâché-face puppets, who can shot energy rays from their eyes and is capable of turn the dead into zombies.
Then it got worse with story number two, titled "Worry Dolls". This was about girls locked up in some institute where both inmates and guards prey upon the weak. Some small, innocent-looking, children's toy known as worry dolls is given to a woman and they invade her body and enable her to do atrocious things to her inmates. Well, this story was just stupid and laughable. However, I will say that the effects in this one was actually the best of all three stories.
And finally it went from worst to horrible in the third and final segment titled "Dangerous Toys" who is about people shrunk down to doll size, one is a deluded police officer and the other is a stereotypical beach bimbo. This story just didn't make any sense at all, and I had to turn it off, because it was just horrible.
Charles Band have some fairly watchable and enjoyable movies to the list of produced movies, this "The Haunted Dollhouse" movie, however, was just awful and far from up to anything previous put out on the horror market by Charles Band.
You might find some kind of perverted enjoyment in this movie if you are a hardcore and die-hard fan of the unique (mid-eighties) style of Charles Band that seems to be present in every single movie of his. However, if you watch this to be entertained and scared, your money is better put elsewhere, because this movie does neither. I was really amused by the statement "A true trilogy of terror!" - I guess we all have very different and individual views of what terror is.
