Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Dollar Bin Horror Review:Devil Doll(1964)-MST3K Version

By Eric Polk-
Between now and my wedding day on Nov.26th, I'm going to attempt to watch as many horror movies involving marital bliss or some sort of wedding. So let's get started with this taut gem from 1964....so taut, this movie requires me to involve the talents of Mike Nelson, Crow T. Robot, and Tom Servo in order to help me survive this ordeal...



The plot is simple enough...Vorelli is a ventriloquist & hypnotist, with an amazing dummy, Hugo. Vorelli meets and pursues a beautiful heiress. She mesmerizes her, and induces a baffling coma. His buxom mistress  fears he'll dump her for the younger woman, and threatens to expose him. Vorelli tricks Hugo into killing Magda while he's safely elsewhere. Marianne's boyfriend Mark investigates. He discovers another killing in Vorelli's past, of a man called Hugo. The girl wakes from her coma, and announces she will marry the hypnotist. When the triumphant Vorelli tells Hugo his plans for Marianne and a new, female dummy, a final confrontation yields surprising results.
While the movie is nowhere near as bad as some of the movies Joel, Mike and the 'Bots have reviewed(It's certainly a masterpiece compared to Manos, The Hands of Fate); Devil Doll certainly has its riff-inducing moments, particularly the big fight scene at the end.  If you have never seen an episode of MST3K, I highly suggest you start with this one!



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