Horror Remix Presents… DUMMY
Horror Remix Presents… DUMMY
Wednesday, February 25th 10PM
3 TEXAS SHOWS!
Alamo Drafthouse
Austin (Lake Creek)
Alamo Drafthouse
Houston (West Oaks)
Studio Movie Grill
Addison, TX (North Dallas)
FREE!!!
Horror Remix kicks off 2009 with a no-brainer. The most under appreciated class in the horror genre; the evil doll flick. Why are dolls, dummies, mannequins and puppets so creepy? Is it because they are lifeless vessels for evil to lurk or is it our own psychosis that projects life and personality into a dummy made from wood, plastic or fabric? Regardless, these bastards are scary.
Dolls have long been a staple of the horror genre going back as far as 1937 with The Devil-Doll. Several important actors and directors have had dalliances with the possessed puppet. Anthony Hopkins played a schizophrenic ventriloquist in Magic (1978). Alfred Hitchcock and Rod Sterling both featured an evil dummy in their television shows (Alfred Hitchcock Presents… and The Twilight Zone respectively). Steven Spielberg wrote Poltergeist (1982) which features a creepy clown doll. The evil doll genre’s mainstream heyday was probably in the late eighties with the emergence of Chucky (Child’s Play 1988) and the Puppetmaster series (1989-2004). But these blockbusters were mere “child’s play” compared to the originality cooked up by independent and foreign filmmakers in the seventies and eighties.
The one exception being the made-for-TV shocker Trilogy of Terror (1975); three short stories linked together by actress Karen Black performing the lead role in each short. The third story, Amelia, is the focus here. The story is very simple, a Zuni fetish doll terrorizes Karen Black in her apartment. Being a primetime television broadcast, this evil bastard was on display for every innocent child to see. So laugh all you want tough guy, but back in 1975 this little fetish doll gave children across America nightmares for years.
A shining example of the evil doll genre in the independents is the mind-bending blaxploitation movie, Black Devil Doll from Hell (1984). Chester Turner’s no-budget underground classic is truly unforgettable. The shot-on-video “ghosting” from multiple generations of VHS tape editing along with the repetitive drum machine beats for the soundtrack give this film a homespun surrealism that can’t be matched. Actress Shirley Jones gives a genuine performance especially considering she is sharing leads with a doll rocking braids and beads. Even with its sever limitations and lack of resources, this is serious filmmaking, not the black comedy of boring jokesters like Chucky.
In Ghosthouse (1988) Italian horror legend Umberto Lenzi (Cannibal Ferox) combined two childhood fixtures into one; the clown doll. Because of the extreme violence of his earlier films, Lenzi’s Ghosthouse is considered a fall from grace by hardcore gore hounds. And yes, this film is perfectly goofy and ridiculous featuring many horror stereotypes. But it’s still a unique and odd contribution to the genre. Lenzi seems to play like Quentin Tarantino, pulling ideas and inspiration from all corners of the horror realm. Although the clown doll is just a small part of the evil infested throughout the ghosthouse, he is the star. On a final note, Ghosthouse has an odd assortment of alternative titles including an informal link to the Evil Dead series (Evil Dead 3, La Casa 3, House Of Doom).
The clown doll was apparently stolen from the Poltergeist props department.
Left: Poltergeist (1982) Right: Ghosthouse (1988)
Finally, our Canadian brothers offer up PIN… (1988) based on a novel by Andrew Neiderman. PIN… (short for Pinnochio) is a transparent medical mannequin with exposed organs and tissues. A doctor’s son develops a very real relationship with the educational tool. This is a creepy little film which features a shocking scene in the doctor’s office.
Check you brain at the door, with 4 wonderfully diabolic dolls. An evil clown puppet, a possessed dummy, a terrorizing fetish doll and a creepy mannequin. Are they inhabited by evil or representations of our own darkness?
Plus, lots of fun extras, shorts and your puppet MCs, Cheesecake and Thunderclap.
SO BAD… IT’S GOOD!
Horror Remix Presents… DUMMY from Edward John on Vimeo.
January 16th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Unfortunately I’m not in TX and can’t attend these showings. You do a great job though….and I’d like to see more.
I’ve been subscribed to your podcast for some time now, but can only download I think 5 remix’s. I don’t see any links here on your site anywhere, how can I download the other movies you’ve done?
January 19th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Love the podcast!!! But yea i cant find any other podcasts either…..:( Is it a copyright issue?
January 19th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
good stuff!!! i think dummies/dolls are creepy because they are in a way miniture humans that humans created. they have personalities with out souls and as a result have no conscience so they could possicly kill who ever they want.
January 20th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
OH, HELL YEAH. I’ll be there.
February 26th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Caught the Dummy remix at Alamo last night and LOVED IT. I mean freakishly loved it. I wish more people had gone with me so when I blurt out “Bitch . . bitch! Wake up bitch!” it won’t seem so weird that I crack up laughing afterwards.
I can’t even count how many times my friend and I exclaimed Holy Shit before laughing ourselves to death during all 4 movies. Awesome. Brilliant job. Can’t wait to attend another remix.
August 25th, 2009 at 12:48 am
Wow, only a complete and total DOUCHE BAG refers to Black Devil Doll From Hell as “serious filmmaking”… I will never understand how NERDS like you can read ANYTHING into that fucking “video”, it can barely even be called a film for fucks sake.