Island of the Dolls

The movie starts out by claiming that it is based on a true story...

Right, well the 2023 horror movie "Island of the Dolls" is a movie that snuck in under my radar. When I stumbled upon it by random chance here in 2024, I had never even heard about it. But I was initially lured in by the movie's cover. And with it being a horror movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I opted to sit down and watch it.

Writer Oscar Wenman-Hyde delivered a script that was as bland as a day at work is long. Talk about a sluggish narrative. And the fact that there was nothing interesting happening just made the ordeal all the more insufferable.

Needless to say that I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie. And while that is usually something I do enjoy when I sit down to watch a movie, I have to say that the actors and actresses on the cast list in "Island of the Dolls" virtually had nothing to work with in terms of script, dialogue or characters. And it reflected poorly on their performances.

The character gallery in the movie was every bit as bland as the storyline itself. So at least they went hand-in-hand. But it didn't do anything to lift up the movie having such an indistinct and forgettable character gallery milling about on the screen like drones.

If you enjoy horror movies, like I do, then do yourself a favor and give this attempt at a horror movie a wide berth. It just simply isn't worth the 78 minutes that it runs for. Some of us suffered through this ordeal, so you don't have to. You're very welcome.

The movie has a great cover, and that is about all that there was to the movie, sadly so. Yeah, the movie's cover was actually the best thing about this ordeal, and it oversold the movie by miles.

My rating of director Jack E. Bell's 2023 movie "Island of the Dolls" lands on a two out of ten stars.