Horror movie fans are bracing for a queasy experience as the disturbing new thriller Dolly arrives in cinemas this weekend. Critical reactions are flooding in, with some calling it 'nightmare fuel' and 'the scariest movie yet in the great chainsaw massacre tradition'.
The film follows Macy, a young woman abducted by a deranged, monster-like figure who wants to raise her as their child. The teaser shows a couple wandering through woodland before being brutally attacked by a sinister doll-costumed assailant.
A reviewer from Film Ireland issued a sickness alert, warning: 'Dolly is the kind of midnight movie that makes you belly-laugh at least once... right before making you regret having a stomach.' The film, directed by Rod Blackhurst and co-written with Bradon Weavil, is adapted from Blackhurst's 2022 short Babygirl. Seann William Scott, known for his role as Stifler in American Pie, features in the cast alongside Fabianne Therese, Russ Tiller, and Kate Cobb.
Dolly made its global debut at Fantastic Fest last September and has achieved a 70% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 50 critical assessments. One critic noted: 'You'll gasp, you'll laugh, you'll scream in disgusted delight at every nasty revelation in Dolly.' Another wrote: 'Dolly amps up the guts and gore of yesteryear to make a throwback isolationist horror sure to delight the bloodthirsty.'
Fans are buzzing with anticipation on Reddit, with one user saying: 'I'm very much looking forward to it. I like that the trailer doesn't give away a lot in terms of the plot.' Director Blackhurst described the film as 'an elegant and twisted fairy tale born out of a deep love of gritty genre films' and expressed hope that the titular character would be 'a shockingly complex and ultimately oddly sympathetic figure'.
