The Dummy

Low budget horror movie about mentally troubled ventriloquist Paul Chandler (Keith Singleton) and his apparently murderous dummy Tommy. The UK DVD sleeve has some cool looking artwork and the tagline "People say we have a killer act", well I can assure you that this film is certainly not killer. I was hardly expecting another "Dead of Night" (1945) or "Magic" (1978) and the current IMDB rating of 1.8/10 I feel to be pretty fair. This is one of those movies that one person (Singleton) wrote, directs, produces and stars in, I tend to give these credit for trying though the end result is often poor (as is the case here). He has very few credits to his name but did appear in the slasher "Student Bodies" (1981) and is a professional ventriloquist. I guess being the leading man meant that he got to be in the movie's only sex scene, which is quite steamy and may account for its age 18 rating (as opposed to the violence and gore, which is pretty tame). There is a failed attempt to inject some Voodoo/Black Magic into the plot. The acting certainly isn't good but I wouldn't call it terrible either. But was is terrible is the UK DVD, the picture quality is very poor and it is also badly cropped. I ended up watching it in 4:3 ratio, 16:9 looked too stretched but it still sucked. Had it looked better I may have scored it 3/10 instead of 2. My son watched it with me and he laughed at it, at least at 83 minutes in length it didn't feel like too much of an ordeal.

this made-for-video crap is an embarassment. the acting is atrocious. the quality of film is amateur. the effects are lamentable. everything about this film is trash. there are low-budget horror films out there that use their lack of finance to be more creative and ingenious. this film is just a cheap slasher flick undeserving of any attention.

STEER CLEAR!

Written, produced, directed and starred in by Keith Singleton, this film is quite simply the worst I have ever seen. Admittedly, the female cast is quite easy on the eye, yet Singleton could think of nothing more imaginative than a quite gratuitous sex seen involving him and his 'suspicious' girlfriend.

Some of the scenes are quite simply bizarre- to pick one, the camera (shaky and excessively zoomed in as is the case in the majority of the film) pans across to a Matron like figure in the office of the psychiatrist (who is possibly the worst actor you will ever see), accompanied by the ever present, bizarrely selected and ludicrously timed 'tension creating soundtrack'. The one point in the film where you are led to believe that there may be a twist in the storyline, nothing more is seen of this mysterious figure!

Possibly the worst thing about this film is that, unlike the case in many other poor films, Singleton seems to have made the film in complete sincerity, so even the 'comedy badness' edge is absent.

If only there were a 0/10 category...

Apparently the DVD transfer was zoomed in too far, cropping off actors heads and short-circuiting visual nuances and award-winning cinematography. In truth, one of the best photographed films of it's budget. Every shot except 2 or 3 are anchored with a tripod, though poor transfers make it appear a bit shaky in places.

The script does assume too much awareness of the subtle implications of the ongoing classic "jekyll-hyde" premise of the ventriloquist being taken over by his dummy, and editing needs to be tightened up. Good example of how script and final editing reflects on actor's talent, giving them too much of the credit or too much of the blame. It has to work on the page or it won't work on the stage.

The poster promises a horror show with blood and violent special effects. In actuality it's a subtle character study of the effects of schizophrenia, and not much violence. Gorehounds will be let down. Beware.

The female lead, Irina Bjorklund, recently won the Academy Award in Finland for Best Actress after many starring roles there in record-breaking major films. This was her first American film. Best seen on VHS, NTSC version available in America.

This film certainly has its ups and downs, but I wouldn't go to the extent of saying it's one of the worst films made, especially since it had some really great plot twists along with a good kill here and there. I personally liked it, especially the ending because damn I didn't see that coming, impressive for a direct to video film. Like I said I gave it a watch while st*ned so maybe that's why I got more enjoyment out of the film than I bargained for but who knows, it weren't no scream film but it sure as hell made a nice little indie slasher. I purchased the DVD a few months ago and only decided to properly watch the full feature now, was actually a good film, better than I expected, might cause some controversy me saying this but people's opinions aren't always gonna be the same.