Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

JoeKarlosi Effective British thriller about a cruel ventriloquist called The Great Vorelli (Bryant Haliday) who keeps the soul of his former partner imprisoned within the confines of his wooden dummy, Hugo. His latest intended female victim is one of the most stunning women to ever grace this planet, the gorgeous Yvonne Romain. There have been a number of such movies made about ventriloquist dummies that come to life and kill, but DEVIL DOLL is one of the more unsettling ones I've seen. The only drawback is, the film is shot with far too many tight closeups, making the film feel claustrophobic and TV-like. There is a US version and a "Continental" version available. The US version is preferable because it contains a scene that is crucial to the story, while the Continental version omits this sequence in favor of showing some unrelated topless nudity. **1/2 out of ****

GL84 After witnessing a ventriloquist's show with a seemingly-magical puppet, a reporter and his girlfriend get close to the performer but learn the deadly secret of his controlling the puppet and his deadly obsession with her.A pretty inciting British killer doll film, though this is actually a bit more flawed than expected. Since the majority of the film revolves around the mystery of who the doll is and why he's able to be reanimated makes the film seem to drag to a crawl in the middle segments once the initial investigation is launched. As well, the whole reasoning for his obsession is incredibly weak and makes no sense as to really make an impression. There's still some good stuff here, including a genuinely creepy dummy that gets in some truly chilling moments, a creepy mystery that gets resolved and even some fun action in the finale that offers some great excitement overall. It's not that bad, but it does have some problems overall.Today's Rating/PG-13: Brief Nudity and Mild Violence.

The_Void After seeing Devil Doll, I do have to say that it is not a great film; but it's certainly not a particularly bad one either and in no way does this film deserve a rating of 2.8 on this site. The plot is similar to a number of more modern films such as Magic and Child's Play and focuses on the common horror theme of a malevolent ventriloquist's dummy. I'm not an expert on this type of film - or a big fan of it - but to the best of my knowledge, there weren't too many films like this that predated Devil Doll - the best segment of Dead of Night and 1929 film 'The Great Gabbo' are the only ones that spring to mind. The central plot idea is the evil dummy but there's a fairly complicated story revolving around it. The main character is "The Great Vorelli", a ventriloquist with a dummy named Hugo. Vorelli sets his sights on rich heiress named Marianne and sets his sights on her fortune. He hypnotises her, and that induces a strange coma. However, Vorelli's mistress Magda soon finds out about the hypnotist's plans and threatens to expose him; but she is soon dealt with, leading Marianne's boyfriend to suspect Vorelli...The main problem with this film is that there's a bit too much going on and at just eighty minutes, there's not a lot of time to fit everything in. However, director Lindsay Shonteff does a good job of telling the story in spite of that and the film does remain interesting for most of the duration. Bryant Haliday takes the lead role, and I wasn't surprised to discover that he hasn't had many roles other than this one because he's very hammy and his performance does give the film a ridiculous edge, which is a bit of a problem. The film does have a good atmosphere, however, and the dummy used looks suitably malevolent. The film never becomes boring and it more or less succeeds in explaining all the important elements about the plot and how the doll at the centre of the film came about. There is another subplot that takes centre stage towards the end that plays out rather well and is very similar to an idea used in a recent Chucky movie. Overall, I do have to say that I'm surprised at all the flack that this movie takes but do have to admit that it's a long way from perfect. Still, Devil Doll gets my recommendation.

Punk19 This is one of my favorite British films that was released in the year 1964. The plot features some people named Marianne Horn (Yvonne Romain), her boyfriend and reporter Mark English (William Sylvester) investigating this hypnotist named The Great Vorelli (Bryant Haliday) that they believe is really using mirrors and smoke for his shows. What Mark is really wondering about is Vorelli's walking talking Dummy named Hugo (whom really did live and was portrayed by actor David Charlesworth).To make a story short, Vorelli keeps his dummy in a cage and basically has sex with his assistant. Afterwards he tells Hugo to kill her, which he does, and then Mark goes to find out what really is Vorelli's deal. He finds out that the dummy had a human soul, from this guy named Hugo Novick (David Charlesworth), in the 1940's. Mark races to save his girlfriend, only to find out that the dummy, having had it with not being able to eat ham and drink wine, has attacked and transpired his soul into Vorelli's body and Vorelli's soul went into the dummy body.Very good film that was made in the 60's, even if it was black and white it was good cheesy fun. Just as good as Dead of Night (1945) and it spawned a great beginning for Magic (1978), Child's Play (1988) and Puppet Master (1989). It's a good Saturday night movie. Devil Doll isn't to be confused with the similarly titled film Devil-Doll, which was made in 1936. Devil Doll 1964 was directed by Linsey Shonteff.