‘Dolly’ (2025)

Set in the remote wooded mountain area in East Tennessee, 'Dolly' follows Macy (Fabianne Therese) and Chase (Seann William Scott) as they hike through a quiet nature trail. Unknown to them, Dolly (Max the Impaler) wanders nearby, reeling from the recent loss of her mother.

Immediate and eager, the opening sequence serves to define who Dolly is and where she is emotionally. The porcelain masked giantess cradles the body of her recently deceased and decapitated mother. Crying over the loss, the woman uses shears to remove a digit from the matriarch's hand as she weeps and wails. Gesticulating wildly and swaying back-and-forth repeatedly, Dolly fails to cope with and verbalise the loss of her mother.

With such an intense and distressing opening, 'Dolly' creates high expectations. Unfortunately, the film never quite manages to recapture the claustrophobic terror that the initial sequence sets so alarmingly.

Macy and Chase have set out to the woods, with Chase intending to propose to Macy. Having exposited over the phone to a friend earlier that she had already seen the ring, the film initiates discussion on motherhood. As Chase has a young daughter from a previous relationship, whom Macy loves, the woman expresses her uncertainty of the future and her readiness to be a mother figure.

Contrasting this with Dolly, the gruesome woman buries her mother in the woods and eventually attacks Chase, as he investigates a mysterious sound emanating in the woods. Attacking Chase with a shovel, the two engage in an awkwardly paced and edited fight where Chase's leg is crushed and his jaw is split in two. Signalling a more budget-appropriate sequence, the film cements its opening as the peak of how exciting and horrifying this feature can be.

After subduing Chase, Macy is swiftly whisked away by Dolly to a Victorian house deep in the woods, where she is dressed up as a doll and advised by another unseen man, who is also trapped in the house, to ‘play along’ to stay alive. A little clumsy and stiff, Dolly and Macy clash as the isolated, and potentially mentally disturbed, Dolly forces Macy to be her baby doll. Without ever really ramping up the tension, the film fails to sustain a sense of claustrophobia and imminent danger.

A more severe altercation leads to Macy's ear being torn off, after which Dolly sews it back on. Again, perhaps Therese fails to convey the terror and pain inflicted on Macy, or the practical effects lack a realistic enough feel to them, but the film fails to instil a sense of threat, ultimately reducing the overall impact. Later Macy is able to free the man also trapped in the house. Suggesting that he is Dolly's father, he taunts the woman, holding Macy captive to force Dolly to open the barricaded house door.

'Dolly' touches on the idea of an intensely abusive household, with the father figure berating and taunting the woman. Only entertaining the notion for a moment, the situation culminates in Dolly putting her fist through her father’s chest. We feel the pent-up fear and rage explode from her, but the character’s limited gestures and muted wails offer too little to address the myriad of potential causes to this showdown. Failure to explore Dolly and her environment in greater depth and relying on more than familiar tropes has resulted in a less than unique experience, frustrating at how the slasher has refused to make itself stand out amongst the slew of films already too similar to this one.

Paying homage to a moment in horror history can be appreciated. The grainy 16mm film, rural setting and masked killer wielding a tool as a weapon harken back to the 1970s, where an independent horror film like that was a never-before-seen gem. Borrowing so heavily with nothing new to say doesn't feel like a tribute, more like a crude imitation that does not merit the same attention its predecessors do.

Save for the opening, 'Dolly' offers little in terms of story, characters and practical effects. Garnering no dread, horror or tension, writer and director Rod Blackhurst has churned out a predictable and mediocre slasher that starts with a fun concept, but is never explored or exploited for its full horror potential.

Score: 1/4