By Geno McGahee
The shot on video horror of the 1980s and early 1990s was something special. The camcorders coming onto the market brought films onto the market which would have never seen the light of day otherwise. Filmmakers could make a movie for dirt cheap with their friends and there is a certain charm to that. In the 1993 SOV video “DEMON DOLLS”, we have a micro-budget paranormal horror movie by filmmaker, Todd Jason Cook, featuring a lot of ambition, creativity, and absurdity.
Scott (Todd Jason Cook) is hanging out with his slow buddy, Nick (Rik Deskin). The two attempt to raise a demon and succeed, with the spirit of some evil entity taking over a clown doll and demanding death. Scott refuses, but the doll begins to haunt him. Stacey (Lisa Cook), Scott’s wife, notices the changes in her hubby and begins to see some weird things.
The battle continues and the doll shows its incredible powers, controlling Scott and his friends and having them fight each other. They appear in demented clown makeup and battle with incredibly weapons…like rakes. This is a no-budget production…a rake isn’t a bad weapon for a no budget film.
Bodies pile up and things get terrible for the couple. Stacey begins seeing her husband on the television, stuck in some other reality and then she is surrounded by her hubby, one of each side of her. Scott sees his wife crawl seductively to him, only to expose monster teeth. She then turns into himself, on his knees, in front of him. OK, that clown is demented.
A few things that I found really awesome about this film that I want to note… One, both Scott and Stacey are wearing Married with Children T Shirts and I love that show. Scott actually sports many shirts that show the time when music was transitioning from metal to grunge, wearing a Nirvana T shirt and a Faith No More T shirt as well. I assume that Todd Jason Cook had to have worked at a video store to have so many horror posters covering the walls in his room. It brought me back to my younger days when I was filming with a VHS-loaded camcorder and my walls were covered with horror posters. Another note that should be made is the resourcefulness of this group. They did a lot with a little, doing some rather cool effects for the time.
DEMON DOLLS is a film that you’re going to either love or hate. Many today would not understand it or give it a chance, but if you get what micro-budget horror is, you’ll dig this. There is a lot to love about this movie, including the look and the heart that is in it, but you can see the love of the genre that they had. This was a serious attempt at making something cool on a budget of five cents. They accomplished it. I highly recommend this one…unless you don’t like micro-budget films…snob.
Rating: 6.5/10
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Thanks for the kind review Geno!
Sounds awesome Geno! I am going to check this one out for sure!