Short Film Review: The Dollmaker (2017)

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The Dollmaker is an exceptional short horror film from RDA Productions and the Blue House film company. Written by Matias Caruso, and directed by Al Lougher, the story begins with the voice of the dollmaker (Daniel Martin Berkey) talking to a couple about things he will need from them, and the focus is on a boy in a coffin. The next scene begins in a basement where the dollmaker is standing over a wooden box with a doll in it, and he is talking to Jenna (Perri Lauren) and Rick (Sean Meehan) Deyton. The couple was willing to do anything to get their child back, and that they did.

The film only spans about nine minutes, but the production quality of that nine minutes is fantastic. The set design, the lighting, the score, and cinematography are brilliantly-done and actually took us by surprise. All of the actors were great as well, and it even has some decent special effects peppered throughout the film.

On top of all of the previous things mentioned, the writing is what really brings it home. With the story being only nine minutes, you can usually expect there to not be much to it, but this one knocks it out of the park. It takes all of these elements combined at the same level of quality to pull off a great horror short, and Lougher and team did just that.

Overall, we loved The Dollmaker. It not only brought a level of production value to the table that most big-budget films can’t get right, but it also nailed the atmosphere, and did what most big-budget horror films can’t get right. We highly recommend checking this out. It’s currently sitting at over 5M views on YouTube, and rightfully so. Also check out more from the “ALTER” youtube channel, as there are more horror shorts there. We definitely will be. #SupportIndieHorror

The Dollmaker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqSmb3n0j8o

More from the ALTER channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMOB6uDg7e-h8OuCw8dK2_Q/videos

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