Horror Short Film Review: Dolly

 

Plot: On Halloween Night, Alice receives a gift from her dad, one that she may not want to keep.

How nice it is to receive gifts from a loved one, unless you open it and realize that is exactly what you didn't want. And now you are left with either keeping that horrid little thing in case your loved one comes for a visit to see it, or tossing it. If they have a receipt you might be able to return it, though.

Chances are, the loved one will get super sensitive if you even mention wanting to return the gift. How could you not like something they took time to pick out for you?

So yes, gifts are always tricky and gift cards are seen as too impersonal.

But what do you do when you receive an item that may be haunted?

DOLLY Plot

It's Halloween and Alice has received a card and package from her father. The card explicitly instructs Alice to not throw "it" out.

Curious, Alice opens the package and finds a creepy doll. She isn't too thrilled to see it.

Why did her father send her a doll? Why does he want her to keep it? We will never find out the answer.

Alice has seen enough horror movies to know that the doll may be haunted and starts talking to it. The doll doesn't reply.

She walks away and suddenly turns. The doll still doesn't move.

At night, Alice hears sounds and goes to inspect. She doesn't turn on the lights for some reason.

The doll is lying on the floor even though she had left her on the center of the table.

The door opens and Alice is suddenly scared. The doll is no longer there.

She closes the door, but she can feel an unseen presence.

Alice locks herself in her room only to find the doll creep up behind her.

She wakes up. It was all a dream.

But it is enough for Alice to decide to toss the doll out of the house.

She is nice enough to apologize to her father for it.

DOLLY relies on jump scares for the horror scenes and the tired old formula of everything being a dream. Or is it?

However, the capable acting skills, and the small dose of humor where it pokes fun of horror movies, makes this short an enjoyable watch.

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