Black Devil Doll from Hell

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.

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.

Chester Novell Turner's social commentary piece about the struggles faced by a young, average-looking, African-American woman and the troubles she encounters with her religious beliefs and the puppet she loves. Turner has a magic ability for character development; we learn that the female character is religious, not only through a 10-minute phone conversation, but also a 10-minute camera pan displaying all the religious artifacts (read: Sunday bulletin) hung from her wall.

The film sexy side places the female lead with an abusive, controlling puppet that simply does not care about the women who nurture and care for him. While some scenes may be difficult to watch, the end result clearly displays the destructive nature when a woman makes love to a puppet. Not since Jurassic Park has visual effects seemed so real - many scenes of the puppet actually look like a 6-year old kid! Truly amazing!

I wish the Academy had opened their eyes in 1985 and taken notice to this masterpiece! A great story, jaw-dropping visual effects and to top it off - a soundtrack that hasn't been heard since I accidentally pressed the `demo' key on my Casio keyboard. Find this video, it will make you rethink your social circles dominance.

Black Devil Doll from Hell has gained something of a cult following but think carefully before paying large sums of money to obtain it - it's not worthy of any serious investment. It is, however totally, hysterically, funny entertainment.

Shot on home video without a budget using home locations and presumably friends and family as actors, the story tells of a cursed doll, that when purchased, grants it's owner any wish, but this service obviously comes at a price. And the star of our tale, meek, church- going Helen, is about to find out what that is! Helen spies the doll in a curiosity shop one day and is compelled to buy it, despite the shop owner's doom-laden warnings. On getting the doll home. she makes a place for it in the toilet (!?) and then the terror beings, as Helen first starts to be visited by weird hallucinations about the doll coming to life - and then it actually does come to life and subjects her to a "puppet sex attack"!

Now already this sounds absurd, not to mention very sleazy, but as the film is so amateurish, you can only laugh at the proceedings rather than anything else. Everything is played straight, in fact the actress playing Helen does her best to contribute a performance of sorts - but it's all for nothing as once the Black Devil Doll himself starts to wake up, you'll forget about any realism at all. Basically, the doll is a commercially bought ventriloquist's puppet with a Rick James style hairstyle, and when he comes to life, he's pretty much animated in the same way (ie, with a stage hand's arm up him, waggling him about). The scenes in which the puppet assaults Helen are what this film is famous for and you may have to pinch yourself to know that what you are seeing has actually been committed to film. There's nothing graphic in the film, Helen is never shown fully naked and there is no violence to speak of, it's just the hilarity of the situation that will imprint it on your memory. That and the doll's foul-mouthed, "Mr T" accented vocal tirade, which good taste prevents me from transcribing here.

The whole wretched thing is scored with a Casio organ, seemingly set on one single demo loop that goes "boom-titty-boom-tish" over and over again, oh except for the serious scenes when what are presumably supposed to be sinister chords are represented by a sound more like ear-splitting feedback.

Due to the rarity of any copies of this item, it has become more talked about than actually seen. Sadly if more people did see it, the fog of curiosity would probably evaporate leaving what is simply, one man's very warped attempt at a home horror movie. It's not shocking or extreme, so if you do get a copy, my advice is to have a party and invite a bunch of friends over to watch it. Personally i am very glad my love of bad movies led me to it, and I feel all the richer for having a copy to enjoy.

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.