‘The Dollmaker’ (2018) Short Film Review: Hauntingly Heartbreaking

Losing a loved one is always hard. Losing a child is unimaginable. Some will do anything to see them again. Anything. Two grieving parents look for hope in an unconventional way in the horror short The Dollmaker.

This heartbreakingly creepy story is directed by Alan Lougher (So Dark) and written by Matias Caruso (Mayhem). The cast includes Perri LaurenSean Meehan, and Daniel Martin Berkey.

the dollmaker

Official Synopsis for The Dollmaker:

A grieving mother latches on to a magical surrogate for her lost child. But small miracles come with big consequences.

I’ve seen many films in which parents do crazy things after losing a child, but this one took it to a different level. It’s heartbreaking and absolutely creepy. Just when you think it couldn’t get any more bizarre it goes there.

The performances are exquisite. You can feel the pain and frustration throughout the entire 10-minute run time. At first, it’s the pain of losing their child and then it transitions into the agony of losing touch with reality and how much it can change a person when they’re living in a fantasy world.

I knew something bad was going to eventually happen because, as Judd from Pet Sematary would say, “sometimes dead is better.” However, the ending truly shocked me and it was perfect. Loss changes people and this shows this in a tragically dramatic way.

Final Thoughts on The Dollmaker:

I love creepy doll stories, but if you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all. Or at least that’s what I thought until I watched The Dollmaker. It’s creative, intensely creepy, and one of the best shorts I’ve seen this year.

 

 

 

 

 

About Tori Danielle

Tori has had a passion for Horror and music ever since she was a little girl. She got bit by the writing bug in high school where she was involved in both the school newspaper and the yearbook. While getting her Bachelors degree, she took Journalism and Creative Writing classes where her passion grew even stronger. Now, in between work and family, she spends all of her spare time indulging in music, Horror movies, and nerdy fandoms, all while running/assisting one of the biggest Horror groups on Facebook and writing for various websites.

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