Dolls (1987)

Dolls is a 1987 American horror film directed by Stuart Gordon, written by Ed Naha, and starring Stephen Lee, Guy Rolfe, Hilary Mason, Ian Patrick Williams, and Bunty Bailey. Its plot follows six people who seek shelter during a storm in the mansion of an elderly puppetmaker and his wife, only to find that the various puppets and dolls in the home contain the imprisoned spirits of criminals. It was produced by Charles Band and Brian Yuzna, through Band's Empire Pictures.

The film grossed $3.5 million worldwide against a budget of $2 million.

Plot
A violent thunderstorm strands a couple and child in the gothic English countryside: little Judy, who is traveling with her selfish, uncaring father, David and her rich, callous, arrogant stepmother Rosemary. David only has Judy due to a court order and barely tolerates the little girl's presence, while Rosemary openly dislikes her stepdaughter. After their car is stuck in the mud and the rain begins, they find a mansion. After breaking in, they are found by the owners, a kindly older couple called Gabriel and Hilary Hartwicke. Rosemary threw Judy's beloved teddy bear into the bushes while out in the rain, so Gabriel gifts her a new doll, Mr. Punch. They are invited to stay and while eating, Isabel and Enid (two British punk rocker hitchhikers) barge in with the person who picked them up, the naive yet good-natured Ralph. Gabriel reveals himself to be a talented toy maker; their house is filled with dolls, puppets, and many other beautifully detailed and handmade toys like Mr. Punch. The Hartwickes invite the stranded travelers to join them to stay as guests until the storm ends and show them to their rooms.

As it turns out, Isabel has thievery on her mind, and before taking Ralph's wallet and car, she plans on stealing any valuables and antiques the Hartwickes own. Enid just wants to get through the night. Isabel sneaks out and, while casing a room, is brutally attacked by the dolls, who spring to life and beat her before throwing her into the hallway in front of Judy. Unable to speak or even cry for help due to her extensive injuries, she extends her hand in pleading; but before Judy can react in any way, Isabel is dragged off to the attic before her eyes. Judy runs to tell her father and Rosemary, but they accuse her of making up stories and send her away. Judy then goes to Ralph's room to tell him what happened and since she woke him up, he thinks she's dreaming. However, as she turns to leave, he notices blood on her slippers, so he agrees to accompany her. However, on the way downstairs, some of the dolls delay them by tripping Ralph, and he falls down the stairs. He's fine when he gets up, except for a seeming bite mark that he believes came from a rat. They arrive at David and Rosemary's room, and Judy tries to tell him what happened; but they, along with Enid, simply ignore Judy and accuse Ralph of both attacking Isabel and being a pedophile. Upset at the treatment of both her and her new friend, Judy runs off with her father behind her. While looking for Judy, Ralph runs into Gabriel, who tells him that it's not blood but paint that he and Judy stepped in; and Isabel probably just got lost in one of the halls in the large house. Satisfied, he continues his search for Judy, finding her in the kitchen along with Mr. Punch. She continues to try to convince him, but he doesn't believe in the dolls until Mr. Punch himself actually speaks up which shocks both of them.

Rosemary is later ambushed and attacked repeatedly by the toys before accidentally leaping to her death (thinking she was jumping over them) out of a window. Enid goes looking for Isabel and finds her almost entirely transformed into a doll version of herself, but still able to attempt to warn her friend to "go back". Enid is then attacked by a horde of toys and eventually shot to death by toy soldiers. Rosemary's body has been taken to her bedroom, where, covered in a sheet, her death is not yet noticed by David. A locked room opens itself to Judy and Ralph. Ralph asks if they are Judy's 'little people' whom she spoke of and she informs him that they are. Encountering the dolls gathered together, Ralph ends up getting caught up in a trap the toys set for the other adults and is nearly hurt badly, until Judy convinces them to save him since he is her friend and on their side too. Afterwards, they are stuck until the dolls decide what to do with them. David, fresh out of the shower, tries to talk to his wife, but finally finds her dead. Believing Ralph murdered her, David prepares to kill him. Now safe from any dangers by the toys, Judy and Ralph run into the workshop where an angry David finds them. Ralph attempts to tell him what is going on, but David has taken leave of his reason. Ralph has learned the truth about the dolls and refuses to use them to fight, but David doesn't believe and knocks both his daughter and Ralph unconscious when they resist before David is assaulted by Mr. Punch. During their fight, the other dolls drag the unconscious Ralph and Judy away to safety. Mr. Punch is destroyed by David with a mallet after a fierce struggle.

David is then confronted by Gabriel and Hilary. It is revealed that Gabriel and Hilary are actually a wizard and witch couple who see toys as the heart and soul of childhood and believe toys will be around for as long as children (or even those with the hearts of children) want them. They also believe that the bitterness adults feel can turn to love if they surrender to the goodwill that toys provide. They explain that people come to their house every now and then and spend the night. When this happens, they test their visitors to see if they can change or were good from the start, giving them a sporting chance to save themselves. Some people, like Ralph (people who are able to see the love and respect of childhood) and children (like Judy), are saved/spared and leave the house with a clearer and much better perspective of life. However, those like David, Rosemary, Isabel, and Enid who refuse to change their ways can never leave, since they must play a new role in the world of children. It is shown that that new role is to become a child's toy when David is (apparently painfully) transformed into a doll to replace Mr. Punch when he attempts to attack the couple.

The next morning, Ralph and Judy wake up and are convinced by Gabriel and Hilary that the night's events were all just a dream, and receive a letter saying that David is leaving Judy behind because he never was a good father to her and that she will be much happier living in Boston with her mother. The letter also states that her father and stepmother are moving to another country and changing their names, and have also taken both Enid and Isabel with them, but have left enough money behind for Judy and Ralph to buy plane tickets back to Boston. Ralph and Judy then leave the house together after being bid farewell by Gabriel and Hilary, who invite them to come back whenever they want. As they get into Ralph's car, Judy is overjoyed to find her lost teddy sitting in the front seat, but then decides he would be happier living with the dolls and gives him to the Hartwickes as a gift. As they drive off to the airport, Judy, who has grown quite fond of Ralph, tells him that he will really like her mother and hints to him that if he would like to stay with her and her mother, he could be Judy's new father. Though Ralph does not answer, he expresses interest in the idea. The film ends with Mr. and Mrs. Bowers and the punk girls sitting on a shelf as dolls. Just then, another car with another family with a set of obnoxious parents suddenly arrives, and their car gets stuck in a mud hole yards from the mansion.

Cast

 * Ian Patrick Williams as David Bower
 * Carolyn Purdy Gordon as Rosemary Bower
 * Carrie Lorraine as Judy Bower
 * Guy Rolfe as Gabriel Hartwicke
 * Hilary Mason as Hilary Hartwicke
 * Bunty Bailey as Isabel Prange
 * Cassie Stuart as Enid
 * Stephen Lee as Ralph Morris

Cancelled sequel
Stuart Gordon was, at one point, very interested in directing a sequel to this film. The initial storyline would have followed Judy and Ralph back to Boston in which Ralph would have indeed married Judy's mother and they would all become a family. Until, one day Judy would receive a box sent from England which would contain the toy makers, Gabriel and Hilary, as dolls. The sequel never happened.

Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 62% based on reviews from 13 critics.

Ain't It Cool News reviewed the DVD, calling it "a movie that really stands above the type of film you might expect from this era, with this subject matter." Roger Ebert's review of the film was mostly negative, writing "At some point Dolls remains only an idea, a concept. It doesn't become an engine to shock and involve us," though he also conceded that the film "looks good" and "the haunted house looks magnificent. HorrorNews.net's Jeff Colebank listed the toymaking couple as one of the "13 Best Horror Movie Couples", stating that Rolfe was "the creepiest toymaker of them all". Allmovie's review of the film was mildly favorable, calling it "a serious-minded, lovingly-crafted modern fairy tale that only misses classic status by a few clumsy, low-budget moments."

Home media
Dolls was released to DVD by MGM Home Entertainment on September 20, 2005, as a Region 1 widescreen DVD and by the Scream Factory division of Shout! Factory (under license from MGM) on November 11, 2014 as a Region A widescreen Blu-ray.