The Bower family is speeding through the countryside until they are stopped by torrential rain. Their car is stuck and they walk to a nearby mansion. Little Judy Bower has an active violent imagination and Rosemary is actually her stepmother. Nobody answers the door and they break in. They are greeted by doll makers Hilary and Gabriel Hartwicke. He gives Judy the doll Mr. Punch. Ralph Morris (Stephen Lee) barges in with hitchhikers Enid and Isabel Prange. Judy witnesses the dolls attacking Isabel but only Ralph Morris believes her. That's before each one is attacked in turn.

This is a well made small horror. It's always great to have a little girl in danger. Stephen Lee adds a little humor and I'm glad at least one adult is willing to believe the little girl. The movie could use more low angle camera shots. It could be scarier if the camera is at the little girl's level. The dolls are creepy and fun. There's a reason why dolls are a horror standard.

A father, a daughter, a stepmother -- three components of a classic fairy tale -- stop at a creepy house where an old dollmaker and his wife offer them shelter. Certainly you and I, experienced film watchers, would run screaming into the night. The principals in this movie, apparently, have never seen a horror movie, and so they stay, and of course the dolls are haunted.

Guy Rolfe is the dollmaker, and he plays it like a genial Peter Cushing; Hillary Mason, as his wife, doesn't have much to do, but does it very well. There's little in this movie that is particularly novel, but it's all carried out competently vy director Stuart Gordon, a specialist in Lovecraftian horror. It relies more on growing terror than the usual jump scares.

dad and step-mother too one-dimensional and annoying--like caricatures--same with the new wave girls great stop-motion "Dolls" is not the sort of movie I usually watch. I am not a huge horror film--particularly if the movies are bloody and violent. However, I am glad I saw the film--it was a lot better than I had imagined. Now I am not saying it was a great film--it had a lot of problems. But, the overall film was quite enjoyable...and creepy.

The film is a story about six people who are stranded in the middle of no where during a bad storm. They all seek refuge in a strange house which is filled with dolls as well as a seemingly kindly old man and his wife. However, during the night, the dolls in the house come to life. For the bad people, they will distribute punishment and to the good, they will come to no harm. Unfortunately for these people, most of them are pretty bad and in need of retribution!

The special effects and scary story are the best things about this film. Using 1980s technology instead of CGI, the dolls seem to come to life through traditional stop-motion. But, considering they are supposed to be dolls, it works really well. But the film also suffers BADLY from some of the most one-dimensional and stupid characters you could imagine. Yes, you want to see bad people punished, but these folks were so obviously bad that they seemed more like caricatures than real people. I think the word 'subtle' would certainly not be used to describe these folks!! Had the bad folks been better written, the film could have been much better. It's odd, though, that everyone else in the film seemed well written and likable--even the old man and lady. Well worth seeing and enjoyable if you don't mind the gore and can look past the occasional writing lapses.