Fact: ventriloquist dummies are creepy! Like clowns, they have some sort of uncanny aura surrounding them and the more you look at them, the scarier they become. Different fact, however: there isn't a whole lot you can do with them in terms of plotting. If ventriloquist dummies were easy to process into horror scenarios, surely, we would have as many evil dummy movies as evil clown movies. There do exist a few very good full-length films, like "The Devil Doll" and "Magic" (starring Sir Anthony Hopkins), but they lend themselves better for short stories, like the brilliant segment in "Dead of Night" or episodes in TV-series like "Goosebumps", "Tales from the Crypt" or "The Twilight Zone".
"The Dummy", starring a young Cliff Robertson, revolves around that inescapable plot where the wooden doll seemingly lives for real and gradually takes control over its master... Or is the artist simply losing his sense of reality? In defense of "The Twilight Zone", this installment came before most of the aforementioned films/TV-episodes, and undoubtedly influenced many of them. It's a competent short, but personally I didn't feel any sympathy for, or connection with Robertson's lead character. The psychedelic climax is terrific, and quite disturbing to boot.
"The Dummy", starring a young Cliff Robertson, revolves around that inescapable plot where the wooden doll seemingly lives for real and gradually takes control over its master... Or is the artist simply losing his sense of reality? In defense of "The Twilight Zone", this installment came before most of the aforementioned films/TV-episodes, and undoubtedly influenced many of them. It's a competent short, but personally I didn't feel any sympathy for, or connection with Robertson's lead character. The psychedelic climax is terrific, and quite disturbing to boot.