A group of academics return from a trip to Haiti, where they witnessed a secret Voodoo ritual, and snuck into a temple to steal a sacred item. Despite being cursed to die, they have no fear, until they begin to die mysteriously, one by one. The only clues are a series of dolls that disappear each time a new victim is claimed. The trail leads to a malevolent witchdoctor, who seeks to carry out his evil plan to the end...
Muñecos Infernales, or Curse of the Doll People, is a great slice of Mexican horror! It's got enough of the weird and macabre to entertain, and never bores the viewer. If you ever want to see a gang of living dolls murder people, look no further.
With its Voodoo themed plot, the movie does fall into the old cliches about it being an evil religion, but it's otherwise quite well informed about the subject! It gets plenty right, and with only a slight rewrite it could easily avoid pissing off any real practitioners. Although let's be real, this was never going to offend them! Who could ever hold grudges against cheesy old horror movies?
The heroes are a pretty normal couple, but what's interesting is they're both doctors, including the woman! Nice to see for the time and country. Show 'em how it's done, Mexico! They're a married pair whose dialogue verges on a comedy act, with all the 'Doctor doctor, darling darling' we get.
The female doctor is the film's true lead, and is an expert in Voodoo, and many other branches of witchcraft and dark magic. Neat lady! She espouses
trivia even to the end. There's also one hilarious moment where she suddenly decapitates a doll, then casually proclaims it was necessary.
Other characters include their academic friends, who are frankly thieves! They caused no end of trouble back in Haiti, so it's hard to feel that bad for them. The police are a constant presence, with some likeable faces. Oddly, the doc acts like disapproving boss to the officers at times! Then there's a friendly little girl whose innocence causes one of the dolls to become good.
The villain is a sinister witchdoctor from Haiti, complete with black robe and evil moustache. Frankly he's pretty justified in his revenge. These assholes flat out stole one of his religion's most sacred artifacts from a forbidden temple! Granted he does take it a bit far by wanting to kill everyone else in their families.
Like all great villains, he has a neat lair, which has a nice menagerie of evil (including a hulking zombie), as well as a swanky and amusingly out-of-place mirrorball!
As threatening as he may be, the heroine holds her own against this Voodoo lord, in quite a
personable confrontation. He respects her intelligence and know-how, and gives her chance if she backs
off, which she summarily ignores. She also holds the adorable notion of sending this magical murderer to jail, as if it's the most normal thing in the world. Can you imagine?
The climax is great fun. The heroes all rock up to the villain's lair, and despite their eagerness to take him down, they seem powerless before his hypnotic gaze...until a great crucifix moment. What follows is a fiery action scene, with a satisfying demise for the baddie.
The dialogue in Doll People is a hoot! The main duo have their aforementioned banter, with lines like "I'm crazy about you, doctor." "The same goes for me, doctor!".
"We all realise you were quite fond of your brother, and would like to know what caused his death."
And the villainous witchdoctor has a couple of great lines too:
"I don't think you'd like to be murdered, nor would your friends."
"I don't fear your spies, I'm offended by them!"
The effects here are pretty good! The dolls are played by little people with masks, and this mix of real motion and artificial faces gives an unnatural effect. It also helps that since they're dolls, the masks don't have to look convincing. But they do look pretty good anyway! Besides this we also get a briefly appearing monster, which is pretty well designed, but not visible enough.
The direction is neat too! Despite much of the movie being set in drawing or hospital rooms, it's not staid, and the doll stalking scenes are filmed nicely, with enough suspense. Scenes in the villain's lair are particularly good, aided by some great set decoration.
And lastly, the cast here is a good one. The original Mexican actors all give fine performances, with Elvira Quintana making for a good lead, and Quintin Bulnes a strong villain. Although it is hilarious when he's supposed to be playing a Haitian! I suppose anything's possible over there. It's the English dub that especially entertains. The actors give hilarious performances and line readings, and don't let silly little things like commas or full stops get in the way of their dialogue. They say it all with a straight face too! I can imagine the cast pissing themselves laughing in the recording booth!
Muñecos Infernales is a film that never outstays its welcome, and is a great little horror to check out..
No comments:
Post a Comment