Mystery DVD Club No 3: The Doll Master

Matt Haigh

What would a mystery DVD club be without a straight to DVD horror? But is The Doll Master the gem we've been hunting for?

Published on Jul 28, 2009

In case you're unaware of the rules: Mystery DVD Club is where we buy a shedload of cheap DVDs, in the hope of unearthing a gem. Our writers who signed up to the Club have no idea what they're going to get in the post - their job is to give the film a spin, and hopefully strike gold on the quest for a bargain basement classic. This time, Mr Matt Haigh struggles with The Doll Master...

From the outset, The Doll Master proves a strange mix of the intriguing and the mundane. Stories about spooky dolls with a life of their own are one of horror's time-honoured cliches. And yet, they hold a certain charm. So, while the premise did not necessarily excite that much, it just so happens I'm a big fan of Asian cinema and have happily sat through just about every dead ghost girl story I could lay my hands on.

Things kick off with the telling of a myth - once upon a time, a boy fell in love with a girl, and created a life-sized doll in her image. However, the girl was murdered and the villagers pinned the blame on her boyfriend (sort of understandable really - who wouldn't find it a little weird and creepy if someone made a doll of them?). So, exacting vigilante justice, the villagers beat the boy to death. The doll supposedly stayed at his graveside, mourning her loss ...

So, it starts off with a fairly ridiculous idea already, and things don't look like they'll improve when we fast-cut to the present day and a scene with a girl driving along in her jeep to some terrible (but amazing) Korean techno. This is Hae-mi (Yu-Mi Kim), the main character. She's on her way to a remote art gallery in the hills to have a doll made in her image by a renowned doll maker. On the way she meets Tae-seong (Hyeong-tak Shin), a young model with the same destination.

Our protagonists arrive at the gallery where they meet the film's murder fodder: a sweet young high school girl, a slightly pervy photographer, and a quiet writer who carries a doll with her at all times called Damien. Once we're introduced to the "doll master" of the title, it's pretty clear she's evil - garbed all in black, with a slightly manic grin, and confined to a wheelchair (not that wheelchair users are evil, but within a horror film context they usually are). The idea is that she will create a doll in the image of each of these people, but curiously enough no dolls actually get made, as pretty soon the killing begins!

It has to be said, getting through this film is a bit of a chore. A good amount of time is spent establishing the characters, and they each have a fairly strong personality, which is rare in modern horror, but the ways in which they are dispatched is just too by-the-numbers and lacks creativity. The sight of the dolls coming to life isn't very spooky at all, as we can probably imagine a hand has just been stuffed inside them and is working the eyes and hands.

Things take a bit of a complicated turn towards the film's climax, as Hae-mi must confront the possessed spirit of the doll she threw away as a child. Asia does seem to excel when it comes to poignancy, nostalgia and sorrow in their art, and there is quite a touching message here about the fickle nature of human beings, but it's buried in a lot of silly nonsense that's difficult to wade through.

Not a terrible film, then, but by no means great. Our search for a genuine gem continues...