Black Devil Doll from Hell

Brilliantly sincerely evil and naive. It could be compared to John Waters work in it's disregard for societal racial, drug and sexual taboos even tho I think they were going more for a PUPPET MASTER vibe. The plot is less convoluted than that of PUPPET MASTER (nice lady goes to open air market, buys cute rasta dummy/puppet, takes it home, puppet raises hell, smokes pot, is mean and gives her oral sex.) This movie is worth seeing - if you can find it. The soundtrack is Phillip Glass minimal and the sex scenes with the puppet are shockingly bad/funny. Beyond so bad it's good, so crinchingly terrible it's wonderful. Laugh your way through scenes never intended to be funny while you groove to the fumbled 2 finger synth sound track.

Do we really need a title sequence which lasts for six minutes, forty-nine seconds?

Do we really need a bone-gratingly bad metal song played over the aforementioned six minutes, forty-nine seconds-long title sequence?

Do we really need to hear a five-minutes-long telephone conversation, while the camera aimlessly roams about the girl's apartment, drifting slowly in and out of focus, as if the cameraman forgot what the hell he was supposed to be filming and why?

Do we really need such obnoxious, over-poweringly LOUD noises, buzzes, and hissing on the soundtrack? Buzzing noises which can make dogs start baying two blocks away?

And must those ear-shattering noises accompany such ugly female nudity?

Do we really need to see this woman repeatedly getting boned by the doll that she bears an uncanny resemblance to?

What was the purpose of the still-photographs used during the attack scenes? Was it to conceal the crappy effects?

And if the doll keeps returning to the same Thrift Store by itself, why the hell doesn't the Thrift store worker just get rid of the bloody haunted thing?

None of these questions, and less, may ever be answered, even by the few people who have the tolerance to endure this putrid example of shot-on-video horror.

Not that it matters, but this is basically a one-person story, about the title object terrorising a pug fugly woman in her house. Well, actually it was probably filmed in Chester Novell Turner's house, on Chester Novell Turner's camcorder, written by Chester Novell Turner, directed by Chester Novell Turner, produced by Chester Novell Turner, edited by Chester Novell Turner, scored by Chester Novell Turner, with sound effects by Chester Novell Turner, featuring friends of Chester Novell Turner, and probably distributed by Chester Novell Turner, who handed copies of this to random passersby on the street, and leaving copies of it in local video stores, and perhaps anonymously mailing copies to people he didn't like.

It is kind of admirable, really, that this goofball had the commitment to actually see something like this through, and that he could actually persuade his friends to be in, and work on, a film like this, and see it through fruition. But really, it is an awful monstrosity of a so-bad-it's-good movie. Chester Novell Turner's friend David Ichikawa provides what is quite possibly the worst song in the history of recorded music, until that little toilet-bug Damon Fox came along nine years later with "his" Traces of Death.

The Simpsons tackled this same basic premise far more effectively (and funnier) eight years later, in the 'Klown Without Pity' segment of Treehouse Of Horrors III. Watch that instead.

I used to always pass this box at the video store and, after over a year, I decided to rent it. I can't remember when I laughed so damned hard in my life! There are some legitimate comedies that haven't tickled me this much, definitely a "So-Bad-It's-Good" classic. The story concerns one Shirley Black (Shirley L. Jones), a deeply religious woman who stops at a thrift shop and buys a doll that looks a lot like Webster with French braids. The woman running the store tells Shirley that the doll was the property of an East Indian gentleman with strange powers (although the doll has a West Indian hairstyle, but, never mind) and that it always returns to the store under its own power. Hearing that should put anyone off of purchasing the doll, but not our intrepid and spiritual Shirley (so brave and righteous is she that she preaches to men trying to sell her stolen merchandise on the street). She buys it and even tells it "You'll be the only man to see me naked other than my husband" before taking a shower. She then has visions of being attacked by the doll.

Once again, anyone else would be getting rid of the doll at this point. But Shirley hangs on to it. The next day, it jumps out of a closet and knocks her unconscious. It then ties her to the bed and has its way with her before running back to the thrift shop. Shirley is then sent into a downward spiral of sexual degradation as she looks for the thrill that her "little woodenheaded b*****d" has given her with mere mortal men. Let's face it, once you've gotten it on with a doll that looks like a cross between "Lester" of Willie Tyler & Lester fame and Stevie Wonder on the HOTTER THAN JULY album cover, well, no flesh and blood piece will do (Meshach Taylor's line from MANNEQUIN comes to mind: "I would never interrupt you while you were getting a piece of wood."). Other people I know who have seen BLACK DEVIL DOLL FROM HELL have also had the same reaction: Utter hilarity! Especially at the Mr. T-sounding voice of the doll ("B----, b----, I said wake up, b----!").

If you're looking for a coherent, competent piece of cinema, you'll be disappointed by THE BLACK DEVIL DOLL. But if you're looking for something in the PLAN 9/ROBOT MONSTER ouevre, by all means, check THIS out. By the way, LOVE that cheesy organ music.

I have been waiting 10 years to see this movie. I first read about it in a Joe Bob Briggs article of the all-time worst B rated movies ever made. This one stuck out because of the nature of the film. The devil doll, the rape, etc. Maybe it was the 10 year wait that made this film seemingly better to me than to most.

The other reviews are mostly correct though. The intro is terrible. The money Chester Turner invested in the opening song could have made the difference. The credits seem never ending, especially since there are only about 10 different people mentioned in a 6 minute period. Shirley Jones is not as dumpy as everyone else has said either. Average, maybe a little less, but thats all.

The sound is really the worst thing about this movie. The Casio keyboard comments are not bullshit either, that's really what it is. Some scenes you can barely here the characters lines beneath the sound of the Casio keyboard playing 4 keys over and over again. The acting was only as good as the dialogue provided. Hard to make good out of a shitty script. The movie would have been so much better with some proper sound editing.

The video is not too choppy for being made with a camcorder. Parts of the rape scene are hard to follow because they cut the video into still shots that slowly progress leading the viewer to believe the VCR is eating your cassette tape. Hang in there, it only last a minute or two.

The plot was good enough though, and it had much potential. The doll, the rape, etc. The puppeteer was phenomenal, and the special effects are way ahead of their time. If this movie was available with closed captions, I would recommend this to anyone. Turn the volume off, and you can't lose.

Unfortunately, this is one of those films that could have been huge just based on the controversy surrounding it, but alas, it is no longer made. It would be a good one for someone to purchase the rights to and re-release it after some heavy media hype.

Having just endured director Chester Novell Turner's horror 'anthology' Tales From The Quadead Zone, I thought I would see if his earlier film, Black Devil Doll From Hell, was any better. As it happens, it's just as inept, with almost seven minutes of opening credits, equally terrible acting, cheap special effects and the same atrocious Casio organ music, but it does manage to be marginally more entertaining thanks to its incredibly silly plot which results in the one-of-a-kind sight of a ventriloquist dummy having sex with a woman (well, one-of-a-kind until Black Devil Doll, a 2007 'homage' to this film).

The lady who receives wood from the doll is devout Christian Helen (played by Shirley L. Jones), who purchases the dummy from a thrift store, despite being warned that it has strange powers and always finds its way back to the shop. Unpacking her new purchase and placing it on a chair in her bathroom, Helen decides to take a shower, unaware that the doll is watching. While she soaps up her jugs, Helen daydreams about making it with the dummy. The woman's fantasies become reality when the doll jumps on her back, ties her to her bed, and has sex with her, making her beg for him to continue.

Waking up the next day to find the doll gone, Helen is distraught: having experienced mind-blowing sex, she wants more. Now a sinner, she ditches her religious paraphernalia, puts on some lipstick and her biggest pair of glasses, and goes looking for a man to satisfy her the way the doll did. No one can (not even Will Smith in a hat), so she returns to the shop, where the doll is waiting. Buying the dummy for a second time, she takes it home and demands more action. Nothing happens, so she threatens to destroy it, a mistake that costs her dearly.

Black Devil Doll From Hell is, as you've probably figured out, utter garbage, but bonkers enough to appeal to fans of z-grade cult oddities: the dummy (part Rick James, part Stevie Wonder, with just a dash of Whoopi Goldberg) is hilarious, especially when it gets up and walks (clearly a child in similar clothing), or when it shouts at Helen, "How do you like that, *****?". Watching the doll as it licks Helen's breasts, goes down on her, or gets nasty is a truly bizarre experience. And what the hell is up with that smoke it belches in her face? She might not be much of an actress, but I take my hat off to Jones just for being game.

2/10. It's bad... but don't let that stop you from watching.