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» » The Dummy (1982)

Short summary

A woman is trapped in her apartment alone with a murderous ventriloquist dummy.

User reviews


  • comment
    • Author: Manris
    This is a great example of what a horror short can accomplished. At only seven and a half minutes, the premise is as simple as can be: Woman alone in a house, menaced by an evil ventriloquist dummy. Killer dummies, dolls, and toys are a tricky horror trope. While the concept plays on our innate distrust of things that appear to be alive but aren't, if one goes too far, it can also be comical. "The Dummy" plays the balance just right. Through wholly lo-fi means the dummy is brought to life, almost certainly through someone moving the doll around off-screen. This gives the film a strange verisimilitude though, almost as if it's low budget effects somehow make it seem more probable. The dummy's mouth clopping mechanically while covered in blood is still pretty creepy.

    A surprising amount of genuine suspense is generated in the brief run time. Like all the best horror villains, the dummy is persistent, pushing a butcher knife under a locked door, cornering our heroine and slicing her legs up. The spooky sound design and droning electronic score doubtlessly help the tension build. Frequently shown as filler on premium cable channels and USA's Saturday Nightmares, where I was exposed to it, I'm certain this film traumatized a whole generation of horror fans. Or, at the very least, confirmed that dummies are really creepy.
  • comment
    • Author: WinDImmortaL
    "The Dummy" is an interesting short film I caught on early 80's cable TV a few times, when they'd show interesting stuff in between movies. The premise is simple - the husband leaves for work, and his childhood toy, the dummy, terrorizes the wife when she is left home alone.

    Running less than eight minutes long, "The Dummy" has a few creepy moments, such as when the dummy peeks in on the wife from under a door, or waits on the toilet for her to finish her shower. The wife is pretty and also has a really nice body which helps keep the viewers interested, and having her run around in short shorts certainly doesn't hurt.

    One can look at "The Dummy" as what a full-length horror film may be like if you trimmed every bit of fat off it.
  • comment
    • Author: Narim
    A woman gets ready to go out and finds she's not alone in her flat

    This is a very simple short film of a woman finding herself stalked by a ventriloquist dummy . I can understand why some people find these dummies grotesque and unnerving . They look like humans but are more of a parody of humans . Or more likely it's because we've all seen a film featuring a dummy coming to life like the British classic DEAD OF NIGHT and if you see a film featuring a dummy you know what's coming next

    This short by Louis La Volpe is keeping with this theme . Being a short there's very little exposition and it's up to the audience to interpret what caused the dummy to come to life . It also uses sound in a strange way with a lack of diegetic sound used on the soundtrack . That said there is a strange moment with a comedy whistle used for some reason For what it is

    THE DUMMY is a fair horror short with a dark atmosphere and one wonders why La Volpe effectively disappeared after writing and directing it
  • comment
    • Author: Granigrinn
    Well, not, literally. There is a dummy featured. This unsettling and rather strange old short about an unfortunate woman being stalked and hacked at by a knife-wielding dummy is not without a certain effective eeriness, the wind and rain outside is a nice touch, and there's a little of the Trilogy of Terror Zuni fetish doll in there, and it did indeed creep me out and at one point actually made me jump, which is something that never ever happens to me, horror movie veteran that I am! Only one particular flick could ever scare me. Anyway, despite this nice atmosphere it was just really dull and not nearly good enough for me. The dummy looked like a silly cheap plastic children's toy. It couldn't have looked any crappier. It's a bit of a shame as there really aren't all that many evil dummy macabre features floating around out there. Puppets and dolls are not dummies. Oh darn well... I think I'll just stick to Slappy thanks! Now I know where R.L.Stine got his idea from. Well, "knock on wood" I'd just about call all that a review...uh, I'm done here.
  • comment
    • Author: Adrierdin
    This is a very scary movie. It has a great story line. It also has great acting. See it. It is one of the scariest movies I have seen. If does not scary you no movie will. This is scarier then The silence of lambs could ever be.
  • comment
    • Author: Burgas
    A lady is home alone with a doll her boyfriend and she find on the floor. When her boyfriend leaves the doll goes after her and she experiences a night of terror, and the dummy is not so dumb.

    This movie is pretty much every killer doll movie. It's freaky, but not in a way that hasn't been done before, and the only really new thing it does is making the killer doll genre bloody. It's a great shot when the doll has blood all over it. It makes some new combinations, like the Psycho shower but not actually attacking, and it being a doll. The under-the-door eye, but with a doll. Home invasion, but with a doll. You get the point. It takes a bunch of already existing ideas and puts them "with a doll."
  • Credited cast:
    Ezra Teitelbaum Ezra Teitelbaum - Man
    Carrie Vickrey Carrie Vickrey - Woman
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