Movie Review – Curse of the Witch’s Doll

In the last 30 years, give or take, there have been no shortage of evil and/or possessed inanimate objects. Hollywood seems to be somewhat obsessed with the premise. Everything from the infamous Chuckie doll to Anabelle have spooked fans for ages. You’ll hear a lot of horror fans (not hard core horror fans, they’re another breed) say that old school horror (i.e. anything pre-2000’s) was just not scary. The quality was lower, the special effects were obvious, and some scenes make you want to roll your eyes. Can’t say I completely agree, but I understand where they’re coming from.

Keeping that in mind, I must inform you that if you thought low standard value horror films were a thing of the past, let me introduce you to Curse of the Witch’s Doll. I never know what will be picked up as a “cult classic” but this very may well be because it’s just….weird. They took many classic horror film storylines and mashed them together to present a very disjointed story.

A young mother named Adeline Gray (Helen Crevel) and her daughter temporarily stay in a large creepy manor, “Brenthill Manor”, also referred to as “the house in the woods” because of course it is. The daughter Chloe (Layla Watts) is upset by the move, as they have been displaced by the war (I’m assuming WWII). Enter the reluctant child who does not want to move because there always is one. The very disturbing looking Victorian-era doll makes its way in to Chloe’s hands. If any normal person saw this doll, they would immediately know something is off. It’s a very odd knock off of other famous dolls, but uncomfortable to look at in its own right. When Chloe goes missing, Adeline has to figure out what happened.

This movie has the distinct ability of dragging on longer than I thought possible, so there’s that. It’s unfortunate, because while cliche´, this could have been a fun horror film. Us horror fans aren’t deterred by the recycled stories because so few of them actually get it right.
This movie is so odd, it’s almost comical. It could become a cult classic, or it could just be bad. I’m not entirely sure.