Movie Review: ‘BLACK DEVIL DOLL’

When I had the opportunity to see the film in Toronto at the FAN EXPO in August of 2009, I was stoked.   The film has a throwback poster and even a novelization and I knew that I wanted to watch the film in the environment it was playing in – an audience of genre film fans.   I didn’t want to see this film on DVD in a living room by myself – well, I’m sure my dogs would have watched it with me, but I don’t think they count.   Rue Morgue Magazine’s own THE GORE-MET introduced the film with the warning that the film is tasteless, offensive and juvenile.   With those words, he just handed me the lubrication For the next 70 or so minutes, I was treated to pure trash and exploitation.   A side of me liked it and another side of me started questioning whether this film was any good or not.   Good Exploitation films walk a fine line.   They can be tasteless and go over the line yet still be entertaining.   However, all of them have a story that usually makes a lick of sense, even if it is ridiculous.

‘Black Devil Doll’ which takes the name from the 1984 film ‘Black Devil Doll from Hell’, tells the story of a young girl, Heather, who gets bored and dabbles with a Ouija board and ends up contacting a spirit/soul of a recently executed convict that ends up embodying a doll that was on the couch with her.   After Heather develops a relationship with the doll, her friends come over to hang out and Heather has to leave the house to go pick up some stuff and leaves the women alone with the BLACK DEVIL DOLL (Please say this in echo – it spices it up)!

Yep, that is the plot.   By the time we get to the point where the other girls come over, the black vs. white jokes have run dry and the comedy is not very comedic.   So, that leaves the blood and the nudity – which we get plenty of.   You will see natural tits, fake tits, some bush and plenty of blood.   Sounds good right???   Well…..the problem with ‘Black Devil Doll’ is that it took a 5 minute comedic routine and stretched it out to 70 minutes.   It is obvious that the story was stretched thin as the credits last over 5 minutes on a film that had maybe a 10 man crew.

‘Black Devil Doll’ is not as good as it advertises but maybe if you and your friends get drunk enough, you might get some laughs out of it.