Rating: R
Genre:
Horror
Release Date: 07/28/1998
Dubbed: English
Sound: 5.1/2
Run Time: 85 min
Flags: Graphic Violence, Nudity, Profanity, Sexual Situations
Distributor/Studio: Full Moon Home Video
A masked scientist creates a troop of vicious dolls to violently avenge betrayals committed against. him.
~ All Movie Guide
Another gimmick-driven
Full Moon Pictures production, though this time the ratio of comedy-to-gore is better balanced and there's enough goofy ideas on display for three films. We get a malevolent pinheaded billionaire, a captive all-girl
rock band, a one-eyed dwarf in a tuxedo, a sado-masochistic industrialist, and a clown-faced, snaggletoothed henchman named "Mr. Mascero." That list doesn't even include the titular puppets, a trio of racially exaggerated dolls that do their creator's sinister bidding. It's all astoundingly ridiculous and played with straight faces and majestic overacting, making
Blood Dolls a lightweight but enjoyable thrill ride. Director and screenwriter
Charles Band lets the plot veer crazily from
science fiction to
horror to
rock video to love story, and even tacks on a
William Castle-style alternate ending for the hell of it.
Blood Dolls was originally planned in conjunction with music magnate
Miles Copeland, and was to be hyped with a soundtrack album and concert tour for the sexy girl rockers who appear as secondary characters in the film. Various difficulties caused this plan to collapse, which is fortunate, since not only were these actresses unable to play their instruments, but the music they were given to mime is wretched, uninspired
goth rock nonsense. Anyone familiar with
Band's lengthy track record will be reminded of his
Puppet Master series and its similar "killer toy" motif. Is it unfair to suspect that
Blood Dolls is just an elaborate advertisement for the "collectible" action figures that
Full Moon Pictures had planned for sale before the film's release (casually mentioned by
Band on the DVD's commentary track)? Probably not. Still, as crass merchandising franchises go, it's one of the best that this low-rent production house has in its bulky, inconsistent oeuvre.
~ Fred Beldin, All Movie Guide
