Ventriloquist dummies are inherently creepy: ugly hunks of carved and painted wood brought to life by a talented operator, although its not hard to imagine them with a life of their own when no-one is looking. In short, they're perfect material for The Twilight Zone.
Sadly, The Dummy is derivative stuff, borrowing heavily from a segment from horror anthology Dead of Night, including the twist at the end, in which the ventriloquist becomes the puppet. It's not the first time that Serling's show found inspiration from that particular movie: season two's Twenty Two lifted its premise from Dead of Night's The Hearse Driver.
Still, it's not a total waste of time, with an unsettling vibe throughout, some neat direction and William Tuttle's wonderfully freakish make-up at the end.
Sadly, The Dummy is derivative stuff, borrowing heavily from a segment from horror anthology Dead of Night, including the twist at the end, in which the ventriloquist becomes the puppet. It's not the first time that Serling's show found inspiration from that particular movie: season two's Twenty Two lifted its premise from Dead of Night's The Hearse Driver.
Still, it's not a total waste of time, with an unsettling vibe throughout, some neat direction and William Tuttle's wonderfully freakish make-up at the end.