The Doll

I don't speak Chinese yet It's evident how hilariously bad the actors are. The script is so inept that it makes you laugh at how bad it is and the CG is on the level of Birdemic.

I would describe this as 'The Room' of the horror genre.

It's so bad whilst trying to treat it so serious that it because a barrel of laughs!

I recently viewed the Indonesian 🇮🇩 film The Doll (2016) on Netflix. The plot revolves around a construction worker who, after finding a doll, unwittingly brings it home to his doll maker wife. However, his mistake becomes apparent when he discovers the doll's dark past-once owned by a little girl brutally murdered with her family. Now, the doll possesses a sinister mind of its own.

Directed by Rocky Soraya (Indigo), the film features Shandy Aulia (Tarot), Sara Wijayanto (Tarot), Denny Sumargo (A Man Called Ahok), and Demian Aditya (Sabrina).

Despite its potential, the movie has more misses than hits. The dialogue and character interactions feel cheesy, resembling a made-for-television production. The horror elements lack the intended intensity, with underwhelming scratches, uncreepy messages behind the doll, and disappointing CGI vomit. However, the transformation of the doll into a ghost is incredibly well done, showcasing scenes that, with better use of the effect, could have elevated the movie to gem status. Despite its flaws, I plan to watch the sequels.

In conclusion, The Doll falls short of its potential, earning a score of 4/10. Still, if you're seeking something different, it's worth watching once.

I dropped the ball a tad, this is the first movie of The Doll trilogy and not realizing I went and watched the last part Sabrina (2018) first. My bad! However based on this I get the impression that's not really an issue as they appear to be independent stories with recurring characters.

Now regarding Sabrina it was flawed but oddly competent stuff and not the silly killer doll movie I expected, The Doll is very very similar and in many regards almost the same movie. It is however almost the same movie but on a lower budget and it shows.

It tells the story of a supposedly haunted doll that gets brought into the new home of a young couple, you can probably work out how this plays out.

I've been watching a fair few Indonesian movies lately and though not groundbreaking I've actually enjoyed them, they're not what you'd expect at all and seem to be a blend of western and eastern methods of film making.

The Doll is hardly original and some parts look really quite terrible, however it's a passable enough effort and Sara Wijayanto shines as franchise recurring character Ms.Laras.

If you're new to Indonesian cinema The Doll franchise is a harmless place to start and I'm now looking forward to watching the 2nd movie to complete the trilogy.

The Good:

Some creepy moments

Sara Wijayanto

The Bad:

Some really quite bad cgi

Has its fair share of flaws and cliches

I liked this movie. Yes, The Doll is scary. Valeria Lukyanova is great in this movie, but honestly so is Anthony del Negro. The outwardly cold psychopath that Natasha turns out to be, in the movie is placed into the context of two ordinary kids who live together. Anthony goes through a breakup, gets dumped, and Natasha is pretty much terrifying. This movie is sort of like a serious attempt at making the Movie 43, with Emily Rose, into a horror film, if the lead actress was'The Human Barbie'. I think that The Doll might be the beginning of something wonderful! I'll tell you how I take my coffee, with Valeria Lukyanova in it.

Yes, there were Puppet Horror movies well before Annabelle and there will be more in the future. But this seems to be quite inspired by that universe (string of movies). Horror movies will be horror movies and either you like some of them no matter how much cliche is thrown into the mix or you will be utterly annoyed by watching.

Hide and seek is one thing, when your doll is playing that game with you, you should consider consulting someone who knows what is up. And while there are western influences as I already said, you can also see that it does have its own mythology when it comes to ghosts, respect for the dead and the other/under-world. There have been worse movies out there, but there have been way better horror movies too (and no that is not a pun for the sequel)