Dolly

Film: Dolly

Year: 2025

Director: Rod Blackhurst

Writers: Brandon Weavil and Rod Blackhurst

Starring: Fabianne Therese, Seann William Scott and Max Lindsey

Review:

This is a film that I learned about when I was on the Dreadcast. It was brought up as one of the more anticipated horror releases for 2026. It does look like it did the festival rounds in 2025, making it a Voyage through the FiVes watch. This will count for my 2026 end of year list. Other than seeing the poster and part of the trailer at the Gateway Film Center, I came into this one blind.

Synopsis: a young woman is abducted by a monstrous figure intent on raising her as their own child.

This is a story that is told in chapters. We see a bedroom with flies. Dolly (Max Lindsey) is upset that someone has died. The body is missing their head. She goes about taking her to a place to bury the body.

It then shifts to introduce our characters. There is a couple, Macy (Fabianne Therese) and Chase (Seann William Scott). He has a daughter. They are dropping her off with Aunt Sadie (Michalina Scorzelli). The reason is that he’s taking Macy hiking and he’s going to propose. We see that Macy is freaking out to her sister, Rachel (Kate Cobb). She never wanted to be a mother. What is interesting is that she gets along great with the daughter. She saw the ring and is now pretending that she doesn’t know.

This couple parks and goes for a hike through the woods. They come to a beautiful view. This is a place that he’s come to over the years. He is setting things up when they hear odd music coming from the woods. He goes to check it out and happens upon the funeral service that Dolly is having. It is a pit lined with dolls and even ones hanging in the trees. She attacks him. Macy then comes looking, being attacked as well.

She wakes up in a crib inside of a house. She is dressed like a baby doll. The room she is in is locked. There is a man’s voice who warns her about where she is. His name is Tobe (Ethan Suplee). Dolly then comes in, wanting to take care of Macy. This is gross, but if she wants to survive, she needs to play along. She continues to look for a way out and fights back. This will be an ordeal that she will never forget, if she can survive.

That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this is a gross and brutal little film. It plays a bit like a slasher, the only problem there is that we don’t have a lot of characters to kill off. If anything, this is more in line with something like Texas Chain Saw Massacre, being that it is an exploitation film. You could call it hixploitation only for the fact that Dolly lives in the middle of the woods. Tobe embodies more of this when we meet him. Regardless, it has effective elements.

Where I’ll then go is bringing up that this film is light on plot. It also doesn’t necessarily need the most complicated story. We have this deranged killer who is a large woman that wears a ceramic doll mask. Her mother has passed so she has completely snapped from reality, wanting someone to raise now that she’s alone. She has someone locked up in another room. The house is in the middle of the woods and it's dirty. Dolly mimics things that she’s seen to take care of Macy. It is degrading and just uncomfortable. I did appreciate that.

The film borrows heavily from other sub-genres, notably Friday the 13th Part 2 (a basement discovery) and TCM, to an unhidden degree. This doesn't ruin the film. The grainy, real film look was appreciated. A negative aspect is the inclusion of typical horror clichés: characters surviving improbable attacks and making bad decisions, which, while not ruining the film, caused eye-rolling moments.

This story explores themes of perverted maternity and nurture. Macy's internal conflict is a fear of commitment, as Dolly forces her into a childlike role, leading to a loss of identity and autonomy. This forces Macy into being the "final girl" to survive. Dolly is akin to a "broken innocence" figure like Leatherface from TCM: their large size causes violence, and Dolly hides behind a ceramic doll mask. The film evokes 1970s horror through antique toys, rotary phones, and a dollhouse-like setting, seemingly lost in time.

Let’s then shift over to discuss the acting performances. Therese is great as our lead. She shows so much fear and pain. What I also like is seeing the fight to survive. Her performance plays well off Lindsey. The problem there is with wearing a mask, everything she does is from body language. Her imposing size fits the role. I like Scott for what they needed to set the stage. Suplee works in his smaller role. I’ll also say that the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.

All that is left then is filmmaking aspects. This is where this excels. Shooting this on 16mm is excellent. The cinematography and framing to capture this isolated house that has fallen into despair is great. I also like the brutal effects that we get. It showed enough to make me cringe. That is something I appreciated. There was at least one moment of CGI that stuck out to me. Not enough to ruin this, so I will say that. Other than that, the sound design and music worked for what was needed in building the atmosphere.

In conclusion, this is a brutal and effective piece of exploitation horror that successfully blends elements from sub-genres like the slasher and hixploitation films. While the plot is lean and utilizes familiar horror tropes, the film's strength lies in its pervasive atmosphere of dread, the disturbing exploration of perverted maternal instincts, and the strong technical execution. Therese delivers a compelling performance as the victim fighting for her autonomy. The choice to shoot on 16mm film lends a gritty, timeless quality that perfectly evokes the 1970s horror it draws inspiration from. Despite a few minor clichés and one noticeable instance of CGI, Dolly is a highly uncomfortable, well-crafted, and memorable horror ordeal that earns its place as a notable entry for 2026.

My Rating: 6.5 out of 10