By Melissa Antoinette Garza
There’s a special place in my heart for movies like Finders Keepers. They remind me of the TV movies from when I was a kid, like The Midnight Hour (1985) or Don’t Go To Sleep (1982). Though not as good as either of those it does follow the same formula. The budget is low, the actors are individuals I recognize from popular shows and it follows a basic supernatural horror formula.
The movie opens with Alyson (Jaime Pressly), who has recently separated from her husband Jonathan (Patrick Muldoon), moving into a newly purchased house with her young daughter Claire (Kylie Rogers).
The realtor doesn’t disclose that the last owners were murdered by their son
who owned a raggedy scary doll. Alyson doesn’t find out until Claire begins to act out. At first, she becomes an outcast at her new school where she is picked on by the entire class for moving into the home where the tragedy occurred. She doesn’t share the fact that she’s being bullied with her mother.
Instead, she finds a doll underneath the floor of her room. She has an instant connection with the doll who overtakes her and causes conflict everywhere. Soon, both the doll and Claire start a killing spree. Alyson and Jonathan team up to try and save their daughter. They bring in the help of a woman who though has never dealt with a situation so dire before, offers insight as to how to destroy the demonic link between the child and the doll.
This was definitely created to attract the fans of Annabelle (2014), but the movies have very little in common. The characters are completely different. Alyson is a much stronger woman than the protagonist Sharon Higgins (Kerry O’Malley) in Annabelle. It makes sense considering Finders Keepers takes place in modern times where Annabelle occurs in the mid to late 60s. Still, though Sharon was willing to give her life to save her daughter’s, she reacts in a much more helpless manner than Alyson who refuses to give up her life or her daughter’s. Admittedly, Annabelle is a better and scarier film. Still, the main character has more depth in Finders Keepers. This is due to Pressly’s ability to rise above some very silly lines and deliver the dialogue in a believable way.
Another highlight was the use of practical effects over CGI for most of the production. Whether it was explosions, blood, fire, or horror imagery, the powers-that-be thankfully opted for real over fake and it added so much to the movie.
Even without my obivous bias towards the movie, it’s worth seeing. It’s a fun flick about a demonic doll and hired a talented child actress that isn’t annoying. The plot is interesting, there are definitely unintentionally funny parts within that make it more entertaining, but there are also a few genuine scares.
Scared Stiff Rating: 6.5/10
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