Devil Doll

DEVIL DOLL is a quiet little black-and-white British thriller with supernatural overtones that might remind viewers of an episode from THE TWILIGHT ZONE or a segment from the classic British horror film DEAD OF NIGHT.Curiously, this film is available in two versions on this DVD: the sanitized British or Canadian version, and the slightly more daring continental version. The latter includes a couple of scenes of topless female nudity, considered daring for its time. The continental version features a strip tease, done under hypnosis, and presented in a non-erotic manner. In another scene, the sanitized version shows a baby doll in the background wearing a garment that covers her upper regions; the continental version shows the same girl topless. What is more interesting is that the continental version shows William Sylvester's name above that of Bryant Haliday but in equal likeness. The British/Canadian version shows Haliday's name first and considerably larger than that of his co-stars. Why this was done is unclear to me. Is William Sylvester more popular on the European continent than Bryant Haliday, or was this a pre-arranged agreement to keep both of the top-billed actors happy?The charming and delicious British actress Yvonne Romain, featured in such Hammer films as NIGHT CREATURES and CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF as well as the British noir gangster film THE FRIGHTENED CITY, is not shown topless in either version. Since she is quite buxom, this might be a disappointment for the red-blooded male viewers.The cover of the DVD shows a tawdry illustration, suggesting that this might be another lurid, gore-splattered entry. Fortunately, this is not the case. DEVIL DOLL is a quiet but well-structured thriller crafted by capable British talents. The magician in the story, as portrayed by Haliday, is unsympathetic and remorseless in his efforts to control people around him, sacrificing scruples in an effort to thrill and cheat audiences by using mystical techniques to place the persona or soul of a particular person into the figure of his doll or ventriloquist's puppet. He even goes so far as to hypnotize the wealthy heiress girl friend of our likable hero (Sylvester) and convince her to marry him, his ultimate goal being to inherit her fortune after he disposes of her delectable body and places her soul into a female puppet. The twist ending, however, produces an appropriate and satisfying conclusion where good triumphs over evil.All of this is done without William Castle-type gimmicks, without insertions of color images (found in the 1945 PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY and a couple of the American-International cheapo drive-in films), or without blood gushing out of wounds in Argento fashion. It reminds me of a quiet British thriller called THE DEADLY BEES (which I reviewed elsewhere on Amazon), a mystery filmed in color with a small but capable cast and without gore or CGI effects. When it comes to producing low-budget films with skillful actors and intelligent scripts, the Brits earn top marks. DEVIL DOLL is a bit larger in scope, but the film noir and Gothic elements that we find in some of the better British Gothic novels (a course I like teaching when I am able to teach British literature) are on hand. My respect for the British style in literature and films has earned me the label of anglophile from a British lady friend who teaches elsewhere in China (she calls me Yankee Doodle since I was born in Washington DC, but she knows that I wrote my dissertation on John Fowles and three of his novels that were turned into three motion pictures). DEVIL DOLL is nowhere in a league with John Fowles, of course, but it does contain elements of the need for control and possession that we find in Fowles' THE COLLECTOR as well as traces of the mysticism and the meta-theatre that we find in THE MAGUS.DEVIL DOLL is a tight little thriller well-worth your time and budget. If you are not one of those who eschew black-and-white films, give it a try.

I ordered this from Amazon in 2022 and it arrived in fine condition. Two versions, American and European, are included on disc. The European version has nudity. I don't consider film scary, rather, it's creepy. Main character, the 'Great Vorelli,' hypnotist, has super mental powers. He can control people with his voice & eyes or even at a distance, by telepathy. He doesn't have good motives.I liked it so much upon watching on TV show, 'Svengoolie' on MeTV network, that I decided to purchase DVD.

This was a great movie, I love Sandra Dorne and just to see her sexy body in this movie is worth the price alone, highly recommended.

Ventriloquist/hypnotist Vorelli (Bryant Haliday) has became a popular entertainer thanks to his acts of hypnotism and ventriloquism with his co-star Hugo. The dummy is too lifelike that it even can walk across the stage all by himself as it has amazed audiences, but an American reporter Mark English (William Slyvester) begins to notice that his rich British girlfriend Marianne (Yvonne Romain) has been acting strange and that the dummy begins to murder people.An excellent 1964 British horror sleeper that has became a cult favorite over the years and a popular movie shown on the excellent series Mystery Science Theater 3000, but i don't believe it deserved to be on that show as it's not bad really. It's quite a creepy for it's time kind movie that is fun and enjoyable, Hugo is quite a creepy dummy himself and the film influenced the killer doll genre that even Child's Play was a direct homage to this movie including it's ideas.This DVD has a nice transfer even on the sound to an old film as it contains both UK/US version and the "sexy" continental version with extras like commentary, poster and still gallery and trailer.Also recommended: "Child's Play" and it's sequels, "Puppet Master series", "Magic", "Dolls (1987)", "Tourist Trap", "Making Contact (aka Joey)", "Dead Silence", "Trilogy of Terror", "Dolly Dearest", "Demonic Toys", "Dead of Night (1945)" and "The Pit".

Creepy little black & white gem from the early sixties, well-reviewed on this page by several other customers. Would like to relate an experience I had as a young teen watching this in a 2nd run theater (The Olympic in Altoona, Pa; 25 cents for a ticket!!) on a double bill with "Curse of the Voodoo." Apparently the theater inadvertently got a hold of an international print of "Devil Doll." The theater was full of kids and teens dropped off by their parents for a few hours this Saturday afternoon. During the scene where the blonde is sleeping in bed after fooling around with the hypnotist, before she is stabbed by Hugo, she turns over in bed, and her naked boobs fall out from under the cover! I couldn't believe my eyes, the audience went wild, hooting and cheering like crazy, never having seen anything like this before in a movie. Of course I swore my little brother to secrecy so my mom wouldn't call the theater to complain. After so many years, I almost thought I had imagined it, but with the release of this Special Edition, I was able to relive a joyous moment from my childhood.

*注意：本作のリージョンは「１」です。　通常の日本のプレーヤーでは掛かりませんので、対応プレーヤーのご用意が必要です。　偉大なる腹話術師兼催眠術師であるVorelli（ブライアント・ハリデイ）は、相棒の人形ヒューゴーと催眠術を使った舞台で大人気を博していた。　どうしたらあの様に人形を自律したかの如く操れるのだろう、と人々は驚嘆し噂したが、そこには恐るべき秘密が隠されていた…。　本コミュニティでご教示頂き観賞致しました。　　「顔の無い悪魔」や「悪魔の受胎」と言った、人々の記憶に深く残るホラー＆SFを世に送り出したリチャード・ゴードン製作の人形ホラーです。　映画配給業者として成功しながら、ホラー好きが高じて俳優業にも乗り出したブライアント・ハリデイと組んだ一連のホラー＆SF映画（「Tower of Evil」「Curese of Voodoo」「The Projekted Man」）でも有名ですが、同国のハマーやアミカスより少々安普請ながら、サービス精神とドギツサ溢れる映画を発表しています。　どこかで拝見した様なお話ながら、より濃厚な大人向けの淫靡なムードを醸し出して居り、英国の質の高い俳優陣（ヒロインのイヴォンヌ・ロレイン（「吸血狼男」）、その恋人役のウィリアム・シルヴェスター（｢2001年宇宙の旅｣）、フランシス・デ・ウォルフ(「悪魔の白衣」「００７ロシアより愛をこめて」）に、怪女優サディ・カレ（「ロッキー・ホラー・ショー」）等と人形ヒューゴーの不気味さが魅力です。　他の人形物の古典（「夢の中の恐怖」「マジック」）と比べるとやや分が悪いですが、ホラー・怪奇ファンの方でしたら一見の価値が御座います。　本DVDは字幕無しですが、規制が緩い大陸向けに女性のトップレス・シーンを加えた「コンチネンタル・ヴァージョン」と音声解説、静止画像集、予告編を特典として加えてあります。　画像も少しキズが見える所は御座いますが、時代を考えれば充分合格点です。　このお値段でしたら損は御座いません。

Devil Doll (1964), not to be mistaken with 1936's The Devil-Doll, gets a really good restoration, courtesy of Image Entertainment. Originally shot in Black & White, it has great visuals for a DVD release, with the audio recorded in Mono; contains no other audio tracks, nor subtitles. Actor Bryant Haliday offers a brilliant performance as The Great Vorelli, a ventriloquist who controls Hugo the Dummy (who looks really creepy and hides a terrible secret), but also has a background as a hypnotist, which he uses to pursue a beautiful heiress, Marianne Horn (actress Yvonne Romain), in hopes of getting to her fortune. It's up to Miss Horn's boyfriend Mark English (actor William Sylvester) to investigate the past that links Vorelli to Hugo, to uncover the secret of the latter and to prevent his girlfriend from any harm. Also available is a Continental Version (Original British Version) as part of the Special Features, that includes an alternate scene where a woman (a musician) is being hypnotized by Vorelli to strip while dancing on stage (a cabaret-style striptease). That scene replaces an important one from the International Version (Feature Presentation) between Vorelli and his assistant Magda, about jealousy and murder. The best part about this movie: Yvonne Romain and a professional dancer performing the Twist together is really entertaining.

Producer Richard Gordon did manage, decade after decade, to properly "feel" the needs of horror movie audiences, and deliver films that were always relevant, and aligned with the expectations of their times.More, these films have survived pretty well and have ensured that their producer, Richard Gordon, would be more than a footnote in the history of filmmaking. "The Haunted Strangler", "Corridors of blood" and "First man into space" are all very good B-movie classics, and "Devil Doll" is no exception.This movie benefits from a really good story, a reasonably dark atmosphere, good production values, solid acting (Yvonne Romain and Sandra Dorne in particular, yummie - but also Bryant Haliday, always keeping the audience on their toes).The final plot twist is phenomenal and would be used with similar effect by David Cronenberg in the legendary "Scanners". The bonuses are great - in particular with the presentation of an "international" (i.e with slightly more nudity) version of the film and an always welcome commentary with Gordon and his biographer Tom Weaver.A lot of fun.

Decent flick. I wouldn't say its as good as most reviews say on here. Because of the reviews that's what made me intrigued to buy it in the 1st place without ever seeing it, better yet, never even heard of it beforehand. I was slightly disappointed. I found myself bored and going off and doing other things while it played. Not my type of flick. Ive seen better.

This isn't a bad take on the ventriloquist dummy theme that was made famous as a short story in "Dead of Night" 1945.This newer version has a nasty hypnotist - The Great Vorelli - somehow transfer the soul of his stage partner into a dummy and then force it to do his bidding.A battle of wills ensues and there is a suprise climax where the villain gets his just desserts.This DVD has a few extras on it that are interesting, and also contains the slightly racier Continental version of the film with a few scenes of topless women prancing about.Not bad at all, and a bargain price.