Fantastic Fest 25: “Dolly” is Throwback ’70s Horror
Dolls have long been a staple in horror films. Some find comfort in these small, snuggleable items, while others find their beady little eyes unsettling. Something we can all, hopefully, agree on is that if you come across a bunch of battered, dirty dolls in a forest, you should just leave them alone. That common sense doesn’t translate to the main characters of Rod Blackhurst’s 2025 Fantastic Fest-world premiering Dolly, who find themselves face-to-face with a nightmare they couldn’t possibly have imagined.
Chase (Seann William Scott ) and Macy (Fabianne Therese) are traveling to the woods for a nice hike to an overlook with a beautiful view. Macy thinks this is the moment when Chase will propose, but she’s feeling a little anxious about it. Wondering if she’s ready to become a step-mother to Chase’s daughter. Their romantic hike is interrupted by the presence of an “art installation” of dolls in a clearing. Little do they know, these dolls belong to a childlike person named Dolly (Max the Impaler) who is perpetually searching for their latest doll to care for. Dolly kidnaps Macy and traps her in their home which puts Macy in a fight for her life.
courtesy of Dolly
Dolly is reminiscent of the American horror films of the 1970s. That was an era of The Hills Have Eyes and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, where isolation was as much of a violent force as the brutal killer. This era of horror films was a reflection of changing American values. They were made in the shadow of the Civil Rights era of the ’60s and the loss of innocence of the Vietnam War. People believed that the structure of the American family was falling apart and, unlike the close-knit communities of the 1950s, neighbors were becoming more afraid of each other. Dolly is a throwback to this era of filmmaking, relishing in the isolated setting of the woods and Dolly’s falling-apart home.
It’s also a good, old-fashioned, final-girl survival flick. We’ve all wondered if we could survive if we found ourselves in a situation where our ability to continue living rests solely on our shoulders. When all we have are our own devices, is that enough? Dolly uses its roots in ’70s American horror to look at familial trauma’s manifestations in the next generations. Like the films of that era, there is a heavy blanket of misery that covers the entirety of Dolly. Sometimes things are unrelentingly bad and that’s just how the blood splatters. Dolly amps up the guts and gore of yesteryear to make a throwback isolationist horror sure to delight the bloodthirsty.
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