Dolly Dearest (1991)

Synopsis

The movie Dolly Dearest (1991) is a supernatural horror slasher film directed by Maria Lease and written by Maria Lease, Rod Nave, and Peter Sutcliffe. The movie stars Denise Crosby, Sam Bottoms, Rip Torn, Chris Demetral, Candace Hutson, and Lupe Ontiveros. The story takes place in Mexico where an archaeologist releases the evil spirit of a devil child from a tomb of an ancient tribe called Sanzia that worshiped Satan on Earth and dies in an accident. Immediately after, an American family with two children arrives to live and reactivate a factory of dolls in a site nearby the archaeological field. Elliot Read (Sam Bottoms) invested the savings of his family in this business to manufacture dolls. He finds many dolls left by the previous owners of the factory and gives one of them, which is possessed by the fiend, to his daughter Jessica Read (Candy Hutson). The girl changes her behavior, speaks an ancient language and the maid tells to the mother Marilyn Read (Denise Crosby). Meanwhile, the archaeologist Karl Resnick (Rip Torn) arrives to investigate the finding of his colleague. However, the demon has already been released.

Cast

Denise Crosby as Marilyn Wade
Sam Bottoms as Elliot Wade
Rip Torn as Karl Resnick
Chris Demetral as Jimmy Wade
Candace Hutson as Jessica Wade
Lupe Ontiveros as Camilla

Trivia

The movie Dolly Dearest (1991) was initially supposed to be direct-to-video but it did get a limited theatrical release in the Midwestern United States 1. Despite being critically panned, it has been sometimes credited as being the inspiration for the 2014 film Annabelle 1.

Reviews

Dolly Dearest has a 17% rating on Rotten Tomatoes 2. A review by Variety praised Hutson’s performance but criticized the movie’s “klutzy dialogue” 1. DVD Talk panned the film, saying “in the ‘killer doll’ subgenre of stupid horror flicks, Dolly Dearest may very well be the most moronic” 1.