DOLL FACTORY (Film Review)

                               Starring: Justin Herman, Nicole Elliott, Andy Palmer

                               Directed by: Stephen Wolfe

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   Horror sure does have a boner for those pint-sized porcelain-faced units of destruction, doesn't it? Director Stephen Wolfe employs ample dosages of comedy and frights (more comedy than anything) in his latest film, Doll Factory, and it's a safe assumption to offer that this little nugget of campy celluloid will most definitely be on some fans' radar...but for me? Read on and I'll give you the bloody-skinny if you're willing to stick it out - I'll be gentle, I promise.

   First off, I'd like to preface this review with this simple piece of advice: if you don't think that you'll find a low-budget horror/comedy with killer dolls in it to be worth your time and effort, then bypass at all costs. Due to my deep-seated love for the genre, I'm sure I'd check this one out sooner or later, but it sure as hell wouldn't have been on the top of my "must-watch" list. Originally filmed in 2014, this one finally gets the chance to rise from the dirt and spread its rotted limbs for viewers to take in all its splendor...how lucky can ya get? The film jumps off right away back in the good old year of 1976, and after a police shootout against a horde of murderous dolls, the movie catapults into the not so good present day, where a Halloween party crowd unwillingly releases the evil dollie-horde from a decades-old confine via an ancient spell that's been recited...isn't that always the way?

 This nasty clan of vicious moppets has a very simple agenda to follow: destroy whatever gets within ankle-height and reel in the souls, and it's up to the partygoers to rally around who is still standing and save their town from pure evil. To be honest, I could rend this film to absolute shreds without breaking a sweat - but for what? As I mentioned earlier, if you came here wanting to read up on an Academy Award-winning screenplay with the kinds of performances that will have you leaping out of your seat in utter jubilation, then please feel free to use the side exit - this here's a horror flick. We've got blood, guts, killer dolls, promiscuously less-than-intelligent under-the-influence adolescents, and some slightly sappier than slapstick comedy, so deal with it. This movie was meant to be viewed in a midnight setting, with some brews, buds and a general sense of entertainment on the brain - no more, no less.

 I'm not saying by any stretch that I'd run right out to grab this on DVD for repeated plays, but it'll suffice as an October watch - maybe you all will feel differently and love this film up and down till the cows come home, but I'm pretty sure it'll have its own audience regardless.

RATING: 2.5 out of 5