D-3! To conclude these selections by theme for Halloween 2017, what could be better than a figure who has always fascinated in horror films, which you never know if he is harmless or if he will be a source of nightmare? From Poltergeist 's choke-clown doll to Joseph's wife's child-substitute doll in Sheitan , it is clear that they have neither the same role nor the same function, and yet these inanimate objects that are supposed to be sources of comfort are often distressing.
The Chills of Anguish
To begin this short presentation, a film in which the puppet appears in only one scene: The Chills of Anguish, directed by Dario Argento in 1975. Giallo masterfully led by the great Italian director, Profondo Rosso of his original title is punctuated by a children's rhyme. During a parapsychology conference, a medium indicates the presence of a murderer in the room. The same day, she was found murdered. A journalist and a piano teacher lead the investigation to unmask this serial killer. The many murders are an opportunity to see a magnificent puppet, which shows that the presentation of the doll to the spectator counts just as much as the role we intend to make him play!
May
The film May, directed in 2002 by Lucky McKee, is both touching and disturbing. May is a withdrawn young woman, who has great difficulty approaching other human beings. She is only truly comfortable in the veterinary practice where she works and with her only friend, a porcelain doll given to her by her mother when she was a child. Following a meeting, May's fragile balance will tip and she will go in search of the ideal companion. Object of worship and source of fantasies, the doll is in this film a powerful trigger. A beautiful film about acceptance, May certainly shocks but questions above all our way of conceiving the relationship to the other as well as the sometimes capital emotional contribution of objects that can seem banal to others, even useless.
Child's play
We saw with The Chills of Anguish that the presentation of the doll was as important as the role it plays. Tom Holland 's 1988 Child's Play is another striking example, but in the wrong sense of the word. Where the role of the doll is much more terrifying, its presentation leaves extremely much to be desired. For his birthday, little Andy Barclay is given by his mother a large doll named Chucky. The latter is gifted with speech and movement. His voice is that of the man whose soul inhabits the doll and who is none other than a bloodthirsty killer. If you are looking for a terrifying movie with mysterious dolls, go your way. Jeu d'enfant is a film that borders on comedy because of the staging of Chucky. The film was still a great success, which allowed it to have six sequels, the latest of which The Return of Chucky was released this year.
Annabelle
Annabelle is the cursed doll seen in Conjuring: The Warren Files. Directed in 2014 by John R. Leonetti, the film Annabelle returns to the origin of this particularly scary doll. His wife Mia being pregnant, her husband John gives her a beautiful collectible doll. Attacked during their sleep by strange beings, the two spouses will begin to live a nightmare because of Annabelle. Where Conjuring: the Warren files left a thick mystery around this doll, Annabelle comes to play a heavy metal concert right at the foot of your bed. To put it another way, if you were afraid of Annabelle in the first movie, watching this one will reassure you greatly. The interest of the film lies in the discovery of the origins of the evil that inhabits Annabelle, but the jumpscares are so present and the realization struggles so much that the film is ultimately an opus that it is better to do without if you want to keep in mind the terrifying image of the doll.
Saw
Among the most famous dolls is that of Jigsaw, the puzzle killer, in the Saw series. Even if the first opus, made in 2004 by James Wan, is not the one in which the little pale puppet can be observed the longest, it is still the one that will hold our attention because of its quality significantly higher than that of its successors. The modus operandi of Jigsaw is simple: it kidnaps people, locks them up and forces them to do things they would never have done, sacrifices they would never have made to make, in order to save their lives. If they want to go out, they just have to do what they are asked. Endowed with great intelligence, the Jigsaw never leaves things to chance and the traps it sets are hard to avoid… As proof of the success of his puppet, his face is now much better known than that of his creator!
The Boy
Directed in 2016 by William Brent Bell, The Boy is the disturbing story of Greta, hired as a childminder by a visibly psychotic couple. Indeed, they hired Greta to take care of a porcelain doll the size of a child, giving her a whole bunch of instructions on how to take care of it, feed it, etc. To keep this job, Greta lends herself to the game until very strange events begin to take place, making her doubt the existence of a real little boy in this doll. Set in a beautiful mansion with very successful photography, The Boy is a film with an oppressive atmosphere, to be seen for its well-crafted script, its superb but disturbing doll and its chilling finale.
Dead Silence
Director James Wan definitely has more than one horror film in his pocket and directed in 2007 Dead Silence, a film with which doll lovers will be satisfied. It is not one, not two, not three strange dolls that you will be able to see while watching this film, but much more!The same day the hero receives a doll from a ventriloquist, his wife dies murdered. He then goes in search of the murderer. Professional atmospheres, James Wan offers us an oppressive film with a final twist as surprising as that of Saw. Notice to lovers of beautiful images and poetry, this film is enchanting! As for plangonophobes, if there is a film of this selection that you should not watch, it is this one!
Like all symbols of innocence linked to childhood whose corruption inevitably instills anguish in the heart of the viewer, dolls have not finished terrifying us in horror movies!
