Sinister Film's "Horror d'essai" series, the keeper of the unobtainable cults of the horror genre, is embellished with a timeless classic viz. The Devil's Doll (The Devil-Doll) by Tod Browning, the director of the famous Freaks (1932).
The Devil's Doll is considered the progenitor of the "horror dolls movie" strand based on killer dolls.
After spending seventeen years wrongfully imprisoned by three colleagues, former banker Paul Lavond (Lionel Barrymore) escapes with scientist Marcel (Henry B. Walthall).
The latter returns home to his wife Malita (Rafaela Ottiano) and makes his friend a participant during the experiments to which for years, first he, then his wife, the couple has devoted themselves: shrinking human beings to the size of dolls a few centimeters in size. The tiny creatures, devoid of their own will, obey the will of those who give them orders.
Paul will try to exploit his friend's discovery to take revenge on his three enemies who ruined his life.
Ne The Devil's Doll (USA - 1936), science fiction elements are well blended with horror ones not neglecting a base of drama that touches its climax in the finale. In The Devil-Doll science blurs into horror and becomes a means through which to take revenge. Several important figures are placed side by side in this context, such as: the mad doctor Marcel; Malita, the helper wife whose hair reminds one of Lady Frankenstein; and the ex-convict who, out of revenge, decides to take his friend's place the moment the latter passes away.
Browning directs a film with an interesting and unique story dipped in elegant black and white that, despite the decades that have passed, still arouses much interest in the viewer. The special effects, now considered crude and imperfect, are nevertheless still striking. Everything about the little flesh-and-blood dolls then manages to exert a certain fascination: bent to the will of those who guide them, these shrunken creatures are able to perform any action on demand, obviously even the cruelest.
Definitely standing out among the cast is Lionel Barrymore, the actor who plays Paul, the escaped convict who, with the help of Malita, will also become a sort of mad doctor but disguised as a seemingly harmless old lady maker of "toys." A profound and unforgettable character who becomes the fulcrum around which the whole story revolves.
Not to be outdone, of course, are the performances of Rafaela Ottiano (Malita) and Henry B. Walthall (Marcel).
Also in the cast are Maureen O'Sullivan, Frank Lawton, Robert Greig, Pedro de Cordobae Lucy Beaumont.
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Sinister Film offers on DVD a rediscoverable classic that, thanks to the aforementioned label, is coming to home video for the first time.
Unfortunately, it sins in audio quality (fluctuating volume at times) and video (4:3 image format), while the extras include only the photo gallery.
Nevertheless it is a must-have product and one that should not be missing from the collection of a horrorphile.
Format: DVD
Video: 16/9 1.33:1
Duration: 75′
Audio: Dolby Digital Dual Mono | Italian, Dolby Digital Dual Mono | English
No. discs: 1
Label: Sinister Film
Subtitles: Italian
Extra: photo gallery
