A violent introduction to a new killer that feels a little too familiar in its approach

PLOT: A young woman, Macy, fights for survival after being abducted by a deranged, monster-like figure who wants to raise Macy as their child.

REVIEW: It feels like there’s very little effort in putting together a brand new slasher villain, instead relying on relics of the past. Don’t get me wrong, I love the old guard as much as the rest of you, but I’m always craving something new. Thankfully, with shades of other famous horror villains, there’s a new killer in town. And she likes to wear porcelain doll masks and wear dresses.

Dolly follows a couple as they head into the woods to a beautiful lookout, with the prospect of a proposal on the horizon. Unfortunately for them, they’re interrupted by a crazy woman obsessed with dolls and must fight for their own survival. It’s a pretty basic setup, but most slashers are. It’s really about the atmosphere and the tension. Oh, and the kills. Can’t forget about those. Most of the story follows Macy as she’s being held captive by the crazy woman known as Dolly. I always prefer when a film tells a singular story and doesn’t try to add too many elements to try and spice things up.

The film is shot in a bit of a grindhouse style, with proper grain and film imperfections. There’s also what seems to be a bleach bypass, which lowers the saturation and gives the visuals a worn-out look. These kinds of movies will always benefit from being shot on film versus digital, and I wish more would take this path. I really enjoyed it, and it helps with the backwoods aesthetic. All the performances are good, with Fabianne Therese really impressing. Sean William Scott isn’t around as much as you’d think, and Ethan Suplee continues his streak of wonderfully disturbed characters.

Dolly goes in some pretty unexpected directions and can be quite brutal. The deaths are few but very impactful. I was also impressed with how the FX work is handled, with a jaw rip being an absolute standout. They appeared to be practical, maybe with a bit of CGI enhancement, but they always look great. However, some of the blocking when it comes to the kills can be a bit “let me just stand here so you have enough time to kill me.” That will always annoy me, and it feels a bit lazy.

It’s cool to see a slasher villain that’s not just a hulking man (even if instead it is a hulking woman). There is no doubt plenty of comparisons to be made to Leatherface, especially the more Next Generation version of the character. In fact, it can get a little blatant, especially with some of the mannerisms. But I still found Dolly to be creepy enough that she’s able to overcome the obvious similarities. There’s only so much you can do with a brutish slasher villain. Professional wrestler Max the Impaler brings a good physicality to the role. And I like that her main tool of destruction happens to be a shovel, as we don’t see that often.

I think where it stumbles is its betrayal of the grounded nature of it all. As much as the film wants to be on the more realistic side, it can get a bit absurd at times. There’s one moment in particular that had me rolling my eyes with how over the top it got. It doesn’t help that some of the character decisions are just colossally stupid. Especially in the third act. I’ve heard the term “Fairy Tale” bandied about, but outside of a few abstract shots, it doesn’t really fit the motif. I always like a movie that makes me feel like I need to take a shower afterwards, but Dolly feels a bit lost. There are some really interesting ideas here, but it sometimes devolves into dumb slasher territory when it could have stuck with its more interesting cat-and-mouse, psychological approach. And it’s going to be tough to avoid the Texas Chainsaw Massacre comparisons when you blatantly recreate one of the most famous scenes.

Dolly is playing in theaters on March 6th, 2026.

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