Devil Doll Rating: Release Date: 03 September, 2002 Retail Price: $24.99 OUR Price: $22.49 You SAVE: $2.50! Cast: Ray Anthony Lindsay Shonteff Bryant Haliday

Devil Doll Reviews

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Superb DVD release of creepy Brit-horror classic
Reporter Mark English (William Sylvester; Gorgo, 2001: A Space Odyssey) is assigned to write a story on dark, sadistic hypnotist/ventriloquist The Great Vorelli (Bryant Haliday). English convinces his girlfriend Marianne (Yvonne Romain; Curse of the Werewolf, Circus of Horrors) to volunteer to be an on-stage hypnotic subject of Vorelli�s, whose popular act also involves his sarcastic talking, walking dummy Hugo. Determined to discover the secret of the dummy�s animation, Mark indirectly arranges to have Vorelli perform at Marianne�s aunt�s charity ball, to which Vorelli readily agrees since he�s become obsessed with Marianne. While staying over at the aunt�s after the ball, Vorelli puts Marianne in a strange, lingering trance and Hugo himself gives Mark a clue to as to his �secret.� Further plot threads, which shouldn�t be disclosed, are interwoven, leading ultimately to an open-ended yet satisfying �twist� ending. Haliday, in his finest hour, is terrific as Vorelli, intense and creepy, in a makeup reminiscent of Barrymore�s Svengali, if a bit better groomed. Lindsay Shonteff�s direction (closely �supervised� by Sidney J. Furie) is also better than usual here (try watching Shonteff�s Curse of the Voodoo sometime), utilizing lots of expressionistic low camera angles and a few avant-garde-ish negative image inserts. The (part electronic?) soundtrack is also surprisingly effective, especially since it�s made up entirely of �library� cues, some of them scored by the likes of Malcolm Lockyer (Dr. Who and the Daleks, Island of Terror). The story moves along briskly, there is some brief, mild gore and nudity, and the acting is generally of high caliber (Yvonne Romain displays some surprising chops, and the little person inside Hugo very convincingly assays the shambling gait of a living doll). The overall effect is that of an excellent extended Anglicized episode of Twilight Zone or Thriller (and that�s meant as a compliment) with echoes of both Dead of Night and Svengali for good measure. Both the original English/American version of the film and the �hot� continental version are included on the DVD. Purists will probably prefer the English cut, especially as the continental version completely replaces a key dialogue scene between Vorelli and his assistant Magda (Sandra Dorne) with a relatively unerotic and superfluous striptease number. This cut completely removes the motivation for the following scene and creates needless confusion, particularly for the first-time viewer. Definitely watch the English version first if you�ve never seen the film before. The other two scenes with added nudity (bared breasts) were reshot for the continental version, hence don�t affect the story line or running time.
Source prints for both versions are virtually pristine. Physical damage is limited to some very light speckling; black level, brightness, contrast, sharpness, and shadow/highlight detail are uniformly excellent. The digitally remastered transfers are matted at 1.66:1 and anamorphically enhanced. A lightly speckled but fairly sharp trailer with very good to excellent tonal values is included, as well as a nicely done gallery of approximately 95 stills, ad mats, and posters. The liner notes by Tom Weaver consist primarily of an interview with Frederick E. West, who wrote the original short story upon which the film was based. The audio commentary by producer Richard Gordon, with Weaver, (who also paired for Criterion�s terrific Fiend without a Face DVD) is, as usual, exhaustively informative, although they do not directly comment on the on-screen action a great deal. I�ve always believed Devil Doll to be one of the underrated gems of non-Hammer British horror (along with Circus of Horrors) and this DVD is the ultimate tribute. Highly recommended.

a nifty little thriller
it's about time they released this on dvd. i bought three of them. this movie was excellent and the clear print that they took this from is superb. this is a must buy for all classic horror fans.

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