USA 2025   
Opening June 11, 2026

Directed by: Rod Blackhurst
Writing credits: Rod Blackhurst, Brandon Weavil
Principal actors: Fabianne Therese, Seann William Scott, Kate Cobb, Eve Blackhurst, Ethan Suplee

In writer-director Rod Blackhurst’s horror tale, everything is other than what it seems. Trailing along with the thirties-plus in-love couple on this sunny summer’s day, pointed comments run through their banter as cozy country music spins its yarn on the radio driving higher and deeper into the forest’s remoteness. Naturally, we follow the Scenic Point signposting, and its promised view is breathtaking, boundless. Macy’s (Fabianne Therese) gleeful surprise at spotting the first doll is stoked as they encounter more figures she slows to marvel at. “They weren’t here before,” Chase (Seann William Scott) comments without slowing as he, on the other hand, is a man on a mission. That he then interrupts to investigate an obscure sound. Big mistake. Quite unintendedly Chase interrupts this hulking, sniveling rather grotesque figure dressed in ruffles and bows. The porcelain painted doll’s mask is disarming, as are her actions. Before long, the abandoned Macy, hunting for Chase and stumbling across yet more dolls of all shapes, sizes, and makes, meets Dolly (professional wrestler Max the Impaler). It is time to play along— “be a doll,” Macy’s warned upon awakening in a crib in an old-time fluffy bedroom. The strange house has whispering walls and a special cellar, all designed for a never-to-be-forgotten experience. 

Slasher fans will be gratified by Dolly’s blood, gore, and savagery. Surprisingly though, the insidiousness in Blackhurst’s storyline fleshes out the characters with doses of unlikability, failings, and deprivations, as well as generational attributes, pathos. Dolly’s story is solid in its simplicity. Production values are top-notch: Justin Derry’s dexterous camera work, editor Justin Oakey unobtrusively slipping in fleeting flashbacks and silences, Kyra Boselli’s production design with Kaili Corcoran’s set decoration are evocative of the twentieth century, Nick Bohun’s score, and Christopher Fox and Jay Pellizzi’s sound design. Stay in your seats until the last credit rolls for a peek into the future. “The real strong woman stands by what she’s done.” 83minutes (Marinell H.)