Notable Cast: Fabianne Therese, Seann William Scott,
Max the Impaler, Ethan Suplee, Russ Tiller, Michalina Scorzelli, Kate Cobb
There’s something to be said about filming on real film.
There’s also something to be said about filming on 16mm that really makes a
film feel like it belongs to a different era. For a slasher survivalist film
like Dolly, that choice alone makes a hell of a difference in setting it
apart from its peers in the subgenre.
Yet Rod Blackhurst’s throwback grindhouse feature, Dolly,
relies on its aesthetics and those (now) unconventional low-budget horror
choices to carry a lot of the load. It’s a film built on the basics of 70s
slasher and survival tropes, but without the meta commentary so many modern
films love. Instead, it doubles down on its love for the grindhouse aesthetic,
asking audiences to buy into the feeling of finding a long-lost regional horror
film from that era, and guns for it. Its aesthetics are certainly carrying a
lot of the film's buy-in.
It’s absolutely a respectable approach, and Dolly embraces it, warts and all.
Like many films from that era, especially in the wake of
successes like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes,
or Tourist Trap, Dolly blends the proto-slasher elements of
pre-80s horror with a stronger survivalist mentality. It has its merits, but it
also carries some of the problems that plagued less iconic follow-up
films.
As noted, the film looks fairly incredible. Its 16mm film
style is impressive and immediately warps the audience to a different era.
Director Rod Blackhurst uses it throughout, adding old-school edits and visual
schemes to reinforce the style, and horror fans will appreciate what he is
accomplishing with those aesthetics. In fact, it’s perhaps the biggest reason
to seek out Dolly. Hell, he even pulls out this wild and surreal moment
when a character leaps out of a window that feels far more Italian-inspired
than anything else.
The limited scope of its narrative, which essentially only
has three full characters - two being protagonists as a couple out backpacking
in the woods, played by Seann William Scott and Fabianne Therese, and the other
being the masked killer in the woods- exemplifies this issue. Yes, the story is
simple, which keeps the budget low and lets it focus on a more driven
narrative, but it becomes repetitive. The two leads' choices are fairly
baffling at times to keep the plot contained, and it takes almost an hour for
the film to make some of its more interesting moves toward building something
bigger.
For better or worse, the film is only 82 minutes (actually,
77 minutes is when the credits first start to roll), so most of the film is
spent with Therese’s Macy character attempting to survive her captor’s house
rather than moving towards a more expected cat-and-mouse slasher chase. There
are some great moments of practical gore spattered throughout, and a few
moments of slightly off-kilter non-practical gore, and that’s a decent selling
point for a film of this ilk and those looking for it. With the small number of
characters, don’t expect a full slasher bloodletting, but when it pops up, it
works well for the tone and style the film is aiming to hit.
Therese does admirably as the film's lead, clearly trying to invoke classic final-girl moments. The finale certainly smacks of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in a lot of ways, which is either a selling point or a detriment depending on how you take the film’s throwback elements. Still, the film feels much more repetitive than expected, as its doll-faced killer pushes the subtext around Leatherface straight to the surface and hunts down the new ‘daughter’ or doll in the collection. Still, she holds her own on screen despite the film giving her very little to work with, especially since it teases out an entire thematic element about Macy's nervousness about possibly being a stepmother to her boyfriend’s daughter. Could Dolly have run with that a bit more, particularly with its themed villain? Certainly, but this film doesn't seem fully interested in that right now.
When Dolly works, it starts by introducing intriguing
elements into the mix. A few small-role characters arrive in the second half,
including a surprisingly effective and jarring Ethan Suplee, who challenges the
film's titular villain, and the film starts weaving in unexplored lore that
adds nicely as it revs up toward the end. The film's ending, which owes a lot
to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, leaves a lot to be desired. A funny little
original song over the credits and a post-credits moment certainly tease a sequel,
almost mockingly, so perhaps Blackhurst and team are saving some of the theming
and teasing larger story elements for the next one. Maybe. It’s a bold choice,
but I somewhat appreciate it.
All in all, Dolly is a fun little survival horror
flick that owes most of its entertainment value to its aesthetics and its
ability to be a love letter to a bygone era without feeling like it has to
layer in meta-commentary. It has a few solid kills, some interesting second-half
choices that expand its scope, and the film's look and feel certainly won me
over, to an extent. A stronger script that highlighted some of its theming and
added bigger character-arc pieces for its final girl would have done it
wonders, but at this point, it’s a solid little curio.
For slasher fans or 70s horror nerds, Dolly will
definitely hit some sweet spots, and you have to respect that it aimed for its
niche and hit the mark impressively, even if it had some flaws along the
way.
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