818. Devil Doll (1964)

Men and their dummies. The Unholy Three (1925), Dead of Night (1945), Devil Doll (1964), Magic (1978). The tug of war between self and what we create spans the generations and invites the question who are we and what is personality? Performance, illusion, trickery, how much is real and is reality itself a delusion? Frat House Party, Window, Devil Dolls, British Pub, Transfer Tom’s Soul, Mike As Hugo. “Mephistopeles goes uptown”, “Screwtape, take the next left will you?”, “Well I’m not talking till he talks.” “Goodbye credits. Thank you” or “And ladies and gentlemen, that is our story”?

6 Likes

RIP Butt Lady :pray:

6 Likes

This is a terrific film. There’s an effect I had to play back three times before I figured out how they did it.

3 Likes

Tod Browning and Lon Chaney Sr. One of the best pairings in Hollywood history.

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Frat House Party.

2 Likes

Devils Dolls.

3 Likes

Mike As Hugo.

3 Likes

I Am Sorry.

3 Likes

Chaney was slated by Browning to be Dracula, I think, which would’ve been amazing.

Devil Doll is severely hampered by its budget but is still one of the better classic MST3K riffed movies. The villain’s acting is quite good. The running gag with the window is solid if not ROFL.

The exploitation movies from this era tend to be charmlessly sleazy and this is no exception, and it suffers a lot from padding, though not as bad as numerous other MST3K flicks.

The “season arc”, while good on its own, suffers when you’re watching out of order.

6 Likes

Even I Didn’t Believe I Was Talking.

3 Likes

Best of 818.

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More Best of 818.

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The Manchurian Ventriloquist.

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Even More Best of 818.

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He was. His lung cancer and death at 47 allowed Lugosi to snatch the role and the rest is history.

4 Likes

Even Further Best of 818.

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818 Highlights.

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Additional Highlights of 818.

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Hugo The Dummy.

2 Likes

Going Ham.

3 Likes