The Doll 2 (2017) User Reviews

The Doll 2: More of the same

[Platypuschow · 5/10 · 18 January 2019]

The second of The Doll trilogy (And the last for me to watch, my bad) this Indonesian horror is pretty much exactly the same movie as the other two and that is no exaggeration.

Another ghost, another doll, another twist, though make no mistake these films aren't killer doll movies at all and are closer to the possession horror sub-genre.

The third is certainly the best but all of them are watchable, just unshocking and rather generic stuff. Thankfully consistency, continuity and a recurring cast go a long way in helping the franchises credibility.

Some things defy belief though (And I'm not referring to the supernatural element) for example the houses our protagonists live in are near mansions. This is Indonesia, there is a very wide gap between the haves and have nots and based on what these people do for a living they'd not be living in such luxury. These houses are the type the wealthy in the west would struggle to afford!

Anyway I digress, the entire franchise is passable enough but once you've seen one you've truly seen them all.

The Good:

Follows on from part 1 well

Franchise has a competent cast

The Bad:

A few absurdities

More of the same

Take a break - Doll

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 27 June 2019]

This sets off where the first movie stopped. And if you have seen it, you know there is more to be had. Even if you haven't seen it (the movie works don't worry), you get in there really fast. And comparisons I did to the Conjuring (or rather Annabelle) universe are even more front and center now.

Don't get me wrong, this still has its own flavor - yet the cliches will be there. And the blood is definitely going to be there. Nothing for the faint of hearted for sure. Cliches and other things will annoy you, but you have been warned so don't moan about it after ...

Doesn't disappoint

[tostesarantes · 6/10 · 24 February 2020]

They recycled a lot of things from the first movie, as all sequels do. But the history here is more cohesive, although still there's a lot of scenes just to pad out and make the film longer. All in all, I found it better than the original and a good option to whom wants some chills and scares.

Watch it as comedy with friends it will be 100 times better

[diki_rpl1 · 1/10 · 2 August 2017]

Negative: Awful movie, don't know whats inside the director mind. Out of the bat tons of exposition dialog shove into viewer throat. Poor dialog delivery by most actor & actress. The writers don't know how logic and simple physic works especially how doors works. Cheap jump scares without build-up and suspense. Very dumb, idiotic and take them-self too seriously.

Positive: Luna Maya acting was good. Most of the camera works when they a serve purpose with intention is good.

Don't even consider watching it

[bangone · 1/10 · 24 July 2017]

This is an utterly awful movie. While it is meant to be a horror/thriller movie, it totally fails to deliver horror/thriller experience.

This movie will just give you loads of cheap jump scares and awful storyline. Please don't make the same mistake with what I did, it totally wasted my time, and money.

The Doll 2 is probably not worth your time, sorry.

[teh258 · 2/10 · 7 August 2017]

The Doll 2 is a hardly passable derivative horror film. Frankly, I don't think my friends and I were scared at all when we were watching it. The team behind this has a lot to work on and the first thing they should start with is their audio. One doesn't simply keep everything loud all the time and exclude ambient sound for re-recording.

Very scary

[philippakoh · 7/10 · 19 October 2020]

In my opinion the movie was terrifying at the end! I'm gonna get nightmares tonight ngl... however the noises were a bit too much...

Not bad

[olcayozfirat · 4/10 · 2 March 2022]

2018 Indonesian horror movie. The movie is the classic cursed doll movie. But the cinema techniques are pretty good huh.

They are smashing mercedes or something in terms of budget. What is that doll? Damn ugly. If I were a child, I would be afraid of him anyway.

It is a movie full of people who have drunk a lot of words and immortality.

3rd movie is on the way.

Forced movie with nothing scary

[stevenemesis · 1/10 · 31 January 2019]

This movie is funny and not scary. The director cannot make use of the atmosphere to create fear for the audience and seemed too eager to make a story with bad actors fainting every 2 mins and no one dying even though some injuries shown in the movie will have people dying outside. Very bad movie. Should be comedy instead

Excellent! Better than the first.

[nitzanhavoc · 8/10 · 24 January 2019]

I set out to watch The Doll 2 with certain worries, mainly that it would follow the unfortunate and all too familiar tradition of Horror sequels that (a) are barely remotely connected to the first title and (b) are nothing but a greedy attempt to capitalize on its success. My, was I blissfully wrong! The Doll 2 does follow in the footsteps of other sequels, but not of the Hollywood persuasion, but of Asian Horror (meaning the sequel is just as great as the first if not better). First review I've seen here offered what was in my opinion very unfair criticism, lamenting how The Doll 2 was simply "more of the same". Indeed, it follows the general rules set by the first film, as a sequel ought to. That's not criticism, that's praise.

Much like the classic sequels of old (the Friday the 13th anthology comes to mind) The Doll 2 picks up right about where the first film ended. None of that "different story, different characters, different everything possible, same antagonist" equation defining most of today's Horror sequels - but an actual sequel the way it should be. The relevant characters (and cast!) of the first film appear in this one and play a significant role, but without overshadowing the new and more central protagonists. The story, plot and especially pace are also much like in the first film. Very little room to breathe as one occasion is rapidly followed by another, without wasting any screen time and without a single dull moment. In fact, I actually believe a little more build-up could have served the plot well, but the story and pace are great nonetheless. Seeing an almost two hour film and thinking "it could have been longer and still excellent" is in my opinion quite a complement.

And of course, the plot twist. I'm a sucker for plot twists, I believe they are the one thing that makes good Horror films great. But they have to be smart, surprising yet authentic and not forced and of course they have to make sense. Just like in the first film - the plot twist in this one meets all the criteria. While not as shocking and mind-blowing as in the first - it catches the audience (at least most of it) completely off guard and takes the plot to a whole new level. Well done!

Finally, the last nail in the coffin of the "more of the same" criticism - the last third of the film completely changes the rules of endeavor. The film is an emotional rollercoaster of empathy and contempt, fear and relieve, love and hate and discomfort and catharsis. While the first film was indeed great - it didn't offer these features and in such a professional and intelligent manner. Undoubtedly the one reason to prefer the sequel.

Now, to be fair, the less impressive parts. First of all, while the doll itself is quite disturbing, I still haven't decided if it's as creepy as the one in the first film. I'm actually not sure if I like it more, less or the same. To each their own, I suppose. Second, and indeed "more of the same" - an exaggerated use of blood and completely, utterly and to me annoyingly unnecessary gore scenes. I know the axiom is that Horror needs some gore, but I wholeheartedly disagree. Third, I found certain scenes to be, well, not in line with the film's general mood and simply too banal (although just one or two while the rest are right on the spot).

And finally, the bane of the first film - the blunt and ridiculous lack of basic logic just for the sake of serving the plot. People suffering deadly injuries only to shake them off and carry on as if they've received a mere papercut. I of course realize the problem with such criticism in a Supernatural Horror film - but these films too follow a set of rules which each film sets from the start. The supernatural aspects revolve around the doll and the haunting, not the characters' constitution. I realize the necessity of showing the characters getting physically hurt, but some balance was in order and things should have been made to make more sense. When you see some of the injuries you'll realize that no broken bones and not even the slightest effect of such amounts of blood loss are simply too fat fetched. Additionally, a person naturally sleeping through loud noises in their room but being awoken by screams from next door is simply preposterous. All this wasn't in any way nearly enough to spoil the film for me, it just felt silly, I can't understand why such foolishness found its way into such a great film...

All in all, I personally enjoyed and even loved 99% of what The Doll 2 has shown me on screen and taken me through, despite the aformentioned criticism. The first film was great and this one is even better. I of course describe my personal experience alone and can in no way know what other viewers' personal preferences are - you might just hate this film and curse me for encouraging you to watch it. But I do so nonetheless. It's an amazing piece of Indonesian Horror and one of the finest Horror films of this decade. Watch the first, then watch this one and join me in hoping that the third is just as good!

Better than The Doll 1

[el7 · 5/10 · 15 August 2020]

This is one of those times when I wish this site allowed half stars, because I feel like this is more accurately five and a half stars rather than just five, but I don't feel like there's quite enough there to justify grading it up to six. The cold open brings us back to the original doll, inhabited by a child ghost who cannot rest easy because her murderer has never been caught, which has caused her to go insane and just try to take out as many bystanders as possible. Which she does, in a bloodbath that causes paranormal investigator Laras to decide to quit her calling. It's too bad, because she and her brother Bagas are the only truly sympathetic characters in this outing. The action quickly cuts to a new family with a different doll. Mai is very close to her daughter Kayla, and Kayla is very attached to her doll Sabrina. Then Kayla dies in what looks at first like a horrible accident, but as Mai becomes haunted, it soon becomes clear that Kayla has unfinished business. Through another sequence of events, Kayla becomes metaphysically attached to the doll Sabrina and the hauntings grow more intense. Too much time is wasted on nobody believing Mai about the hauntings, and too many of the initial scares are borrowed from the playbooks of The Conjuring and The Grudge before Laras and Bagas finally come back into the picture and things get interesting again. The finale is long, intense, unintentionally hilarious in a few places, but ultimately more narratively satisfying than the previous movie. There is a great sequence set inside of a crawlspace that deserves a special mention, and I feel like if these guys can come up with set pieces that good then surely they don't have to keep cribbing from previous blockbusters. Once again the practical effects are very good and the CGI is not so great, but at least this time they didn't try to use the CGI for more than a few sprinklings of effects. This one is overall more watchable than the previous one, and since the quality seems to be trending up with each new entry, I'm hoping Sabrina turns out to be even better.

Doll 2 has redeeming elements for horror enthusiasts but falls short of being a good movie overall

[kevin_robbins · 5/10 · 20 January 2024]

I recently watched the Indonesian film 🇮🇩 Doll 2 (2017) on Netflix. The plot revolves around a family coping with the tragic death of their daughter in a car accident, where she had a peculiar doll with her. As the family tries to move on, the doll seems to have other plans.

Directed by Rocky Soraya (Sabrina), the film stars Herjunot Ali (Supernova), Sara Wijayanto (The Doll), Shandy Aulia (Tarot), and Luna Maya (Suzanne: Buried Alive).

While these movies have potential, they often seem to lack a crucial ingredient. The acting is satisfactory, and the creepy doll, especially in scenes featuring its eyes, is well-captured. The soul scenes in both films are remarkable. However, the oddness of the doll raises questions about who would buy such a peculiar-looking toy. The kills are average until the last 30 minutes when the film picks up with solid gore and possession sequences, accompanied by effective jump scares.

In conclusion, Doll 2 has redeeming elements for horror enthusiasts but falls short of being a good movie overall. I would give it a 5/10 and recommend watching it once.

Could have been much much better if they let the doll do more and do the killings.

[keithdylangamboa · 1/10 · 14 July 2020]

It could have been worth a watch if they just copied chucky. or that was what we were led to believe before we watched this atrocity. They could've just montage the doll scenes and cut everything and ill rate that a 3*.

Solid overall Indonesian killer doll effort

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 8/10 · 20 May 2019]

Following a terrible tragedy, a woman and her husband try to move past the event by having their friend over to help calm their nerves, but after a ritual, they inadvertently summon a savage spirit that begins targeting them for revenge and must rely on a supernatural specialist to save them.

Overall, this proved to be a worthy follow-up effort. One of the more enjoyable elements of the film is to provide more of the franchises' penchant for numerous action scenes and supernatural encounters. This gets off to a smashing start with the opening battle and the race to get home to stop the chilling action taking place. This frantic opening sets up some of the later supernatural antics with the doll appearing around the house or the disembodied voices leading her to dangerous locations, a great twist on the typical ploy of having the voices become the source of the scares. There's also the rather enjoyable amount of supernatural action within the final half. The start of their troubles brings about some tense moments due to the twisted use of their childish game. There's some fun with the discovery of the notes left around the house or the doll showing up in weird places that building up rather nicely, and with a diversion to an island resort that carries on the games these all set up for the final half. Detailing the body-hopping possession, chases and some outright brutal antics all throughout the house, this near hour-long series of bloody brawls, brutal beatings and supernatural action as the kind of high-energy flair needed to be highly enjoyable. Another big factor for the film is the fine storytelling here, building a nicely layered setup. The death of the child at the fifteen-minute mark gives this one the perfect launching pod to spiral her out into a grieving mother overcome with guilt. Her frayed nature and jangled nerves mean the perfect tipping point between her appearing as a real encounter or not. Almost every supernatural attack can easily be written off as the byproduct of her grief-riddled subconscious playing tricks, constantly claiming the doll is there when nothing shows up or freaking out over nothing. This ends up creating an intriguing viewpoint on grief and depression as these events bolster her guilt that caused all the great action throughout the finale. These end up being enough to hold up the film over its flaws. There are a few issues here. The biggest factor is an overlong finale that draws the film out by offering several storylines that don't need to be included. The entire cheating husband angle to explain the dolls' attitude towards him means nothing due to having no build-up at all and supposedly hinted at with a flashback we were never around for it to begin with. As well, the whole setpiece revealing the duplicity is entirely cliched with the housesitter's constant claims of doing it solely to win him away from his wife causes more eye-rolling than anything and doesn't drive any kind of sympathy towards her. The cliche antics in the rest of the film are a real problem, with killers that don't die from traditionally mortal wounds, ghosts that pop up out of nowhere or possessing the innocent to seek their revenge. These issues are what hold this one back.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Language and children-in-jeopardy.