Very rarely is one watching a film midway for the first time and can already see a classic in the making. It often takes decades and decades for a film to reach either classic or even cult status for audiences to react accordingly to it and for its reputation to reach into pop culture territory. One of the greatest programs to introduce both new horror, classic horror, and most importantly B,C, and D horror is The Last Drive In starring Joe Briggs on Shudder. Dolly, directed by Rod Blackhurst, instantly feels like a “Last Drive In” film in the making, however one that would be placed in the classic or slasher category. Dolly feels like it has infinite possibilities of maintaining a single cult or classic status or branching off into sequels and even prequels. Featuring a horror monster one will not forget, Dolly is a gnarly wild ride all wrapped up in the human terrors of motherhood.
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Macy (Kate Cobb) takes a scenic hike with her boyfriend Chase (Seann William Scott), fully aware that he will be proposing to her. On the phone with her friend beforehand, explaining her hesitation of being a mother to Chase’s daughter from another relationship, Macy comes to terms that she loves Chase enough to marry him and will say yes when he proposes. That is, if Chase finds the time as Macy is kidnapped by a giant woman with the face of a porcelain doll in the middle of the woods. As Macy is trapped in the woman’s own dollhouse she must find a way to escape from the home and from the grasp of this life-sized doll wanting to make her a part of the family.
Dolly has gritty film cinematography with a grindhouse horror feel, continuously maintaining shocking yet not overly grotesque imagery. It is shot on 16mm film, a choice that directly coincides with the type of backwoods horror it is. Where it is being compared to films like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Hills Have Eyes, Dolly understands how to take inspiration and turn it into an entry that shows it loves the films that have come before but it has its own ax to grind.
Where the film maintains conventions of some of the best 70s horror is in its ability to keep the motivations and background of its characters at a minimum. Blackhurst knows that a film can be just as effective in its endeavors without full character backstories and deep psychological motivations for the killers choices.
Dolly gives its audience indication of the abuse the killer must have faced at the hands of her own mother but chooses to develop the story of Macy on a more full level rather than harbor on the past. Despite psychological trauma that Dolly must have faced, Blackhurst also knows that sometimes the most evil human beings choose violence and carnage for no reason other than their own anger and hatred for others. Our killer is given just enough incentive for her sinister actions without having us feel any sort of sympathy for the character either.
At its core, Dolly examines the fears and tribulations of motherhood from the perspective of both the mother and a “child.” The audience is told of Macy’s own troubles with her mother, with Macy’s friend mentioning that she will “never be like her.” In this, Macy plays the dual role of a possible mother figure to come, as well as her “child” role as the killer’s plaything. This is then examined further through the killer’s obvious abuse by her own mother, being a child struggling through it while also wanting to be a mother figure to Macy.
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There is a constant roundabout in how motherhood and childhood is explored on both ends, allowing all characters to see things from both sides. However, Dolly continuously maintains its main role of being a new entry into the grindhouse genre with a memorable villain to latch onto. Time will tell where Dolly goes but this critic can see her making many more appearances with much more to unravel.
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