‘Morgan: Killer Doll’ (2025)

A horror film centered on a creepy puppet, ‘Morgan: Killer Doll’ follows Astrid (Shelby Wright) and her estranged childhood friend and neighbor Darcy (Bix Krieger). The two reconnect after a long time and Darcy becomes convinced that Astrid is the only person she can rely on.

Opening on Darcy’s abusive father offending the girl, Darcy takes steps to protect herself and impales and kills her father with a pair of scissors. The following day, she waits for Astrid to pass by her house on her way to class to be able to rekindle their friendship.

Awkward and a little stilted, the two girls reminisce of their shared past and how Darcy was the only person there for Astrid when she was in a card accident as a child, that has since left her with partial mobility in one leg.

Inviting Darcy over, Astrid encourages her to come to her upcoming birthday party. Seeing this as a way in, Darcy prepares a gift, - a life-sized rag doll oddly similar to herself, for Astrid and composes her thoughts, revealing her romantic feelings towards Astrid in a birthday card to her.

On arrival, Astrid’s friend group Kayo (Sara Kamine), Fiona (Kylie Roseanne), Brad (Theo Rosenfeld) and Charlie (Scott Mazzapica) berate and laugh at Darcy, alienating and belittling her. Later calling to coerce Darcy against Astid, Brad and Fiona bully Darcy.

Desperate, Darcy runs to plead with Astrid, ultimately opting to self immolate as a result of the bullying. Distraught, Astrid tries to make sense of what happened with the help of Darcy’s psychiatrist Olivia (Kayla Fields). People slowly start to disappear as the doll gifted by Darcy takes on a life of her own and quietly eliminates a slew of people in and around Astrid’s house.

Opening on a dark and intense scene of domestic abuse, ‘Morgan: Killer Doll’ sets a tense and serious tone. Clearly the highlight of the feature, what follows thereafter never matches the intensity or heavy atmosphere as that set during the altercation between Darcy and her father.

Incredibly slow and painfully obvious, the film tries to spin an entangled web of drama and intrigue. Creating friction between the group of friends and Astrid, as she openly supports and sympathizes with Darcy, the group continue to bully her relentlessly and show little remorse.

Painted as remorseless wrongdoers, Fiona and Brad hide their secret relationship from Astrid, as Brad cheats on her. Quickly disposed of, the killer doll targets those around Astrid that could be perceived as a threat. With little surprise, the kills are gory and look fantastic due to the practical effects, yet there is very little else to them. The stunts garner no horror, fear or suspense, sort of just playing out as we all know they have to, since this is a slasher and it has to have bloody murder scenes.

Containing no interesting plot points and a number of trivial characters, the film feels bland and unfocused due to its oversaturated cast and little to no action. The focal point of the feature is Wright’s Astrid, yet she has little impact on the direction of the vehicle. Constantly at the mercy of other people’s actions, the young woman stumbles though her own story and has no effect on the consequences of other peoples misdeeds.

Most concerningly, the film is boring. By selling the feature with a clear title, the promise of a crazed, potentially possessed, killer doll is snatched from the viewers as what unfolds before us contains zero excitement, surprise or even a little blood lust enthusiasm.

Following the big reveal that Darcy had staged her own death and had been hiding in Astrid’s attic to intermittently sneak out and dress up as the doll, Krieger’s deranged machinations leave one wanting for more. Successfully portraying a snapped psychotic murderer, Kirieger does deliver on the climactic killer reveal speech, but is ultimately undercut with what seem like at least three fake-out final shots aimed at her to finally take her down.

Outstaying its welcome without having roused any kind of positive reaction, the film chooses to add another overused cliché to wrap it up by panning to the rag doll gifted to Astrid and having it move independently, suggesting a supernatural resurrection of Darcy’s enraged spirit.

Unnecessary and groan inducing, the few final seconds generate an exasperated exhale and leave one wanting to not have engaged with the feature in the first place. Tiring, played out and unnecessary, ‘Morgan: Killer Doll’ blends trivial and exhausting with no obvious reason behinds its creation.

Score: 0/4