The Doll Master

Take a bunch of models-to-be (of the brain-dead variety) and throw them into a scary house. The end result is a laughable attempt of horror, with as many plot holes as a block of Swiss cheese.
Can I class this as the worst Asian horror film I have ever seen? Why yes, yes I can!


The Doll Master

Age Rating: 18+
Company: Optimum Asia
Genre: Korean horror
Running Time: Too long aka 88 mins
Region: 2



The film starts off good, but after the first five minutes goes downhill into the depths of doom, for what we call 'crap'. Thus the tale begins! A doll-maker fell in love with a woman and created a doll in her likeness, but one day the woman is found dead. The doll-maker is then publicly beaten to death by four 'ye olde villagers' for they assume that he killed her. The doll looks on with 'sad' eyes and they say that a doll can come to life - if the owner loved them enough.. Fast forward to present day!



Hae-Mi, a sculptor by nature is invited to be a model in a posh mansion. So we see her drive up in her jeep - calling her mother about random crap - when her mobile goes dead. Liek zomg! We never saw that one coming and neither did we see a bonehead model trying to hitchhike a ride with her. Funnily enough to the exact same place! The male model named Tae-Sung tries to worm his way into Hae-Mi's good looks..er books but they arrive at the mansion. Oh well ;)
When they arrive, they are introduced to the other three idiots.
Sun-Young the schoolgirl, is about as brainless as the two main leads but at least shows it.
Ha-Young is obsessed with her doll named Damien who seems to be the most sane one there.
Lastly, we have the pervy photographer Jung-Ki (Junkie as I like to say) who likes to take some loli pictures of Sun-Young. The Brady Bunch that have now introduced themselves, look for the owner of the mansion. She wheels in (literally) with her creepy voice proclaiming she is a sculptor of dolls. Mrs Im reveals the mismash of characters need to pose for her doll-making so that she can recreate their likeness, they are welcome to stay for a few days.



Hae-Mi takes a wander around in awe of the dolls that are in literally, every nook and cranny of the place. More in-depth conversations take place which involved: Sun-Young permanetly chomping on her Pringles, Tae-Sung ogling at Hae-Mi, Hae-Mi looking blank and Junkie enlightening us viewers with how to kill a doll. Of course, Ha-Young looks protectively at her doll. I mean, why would they tell us how to kill a doll? Because it's going to get used on Damien! 10mins later and Damien's eyes are slashed out and his head severed off FTW.
Meanwhile, Hae-Mi still looking blankly - notices a young girl wearing doll's clothes. She waves to her and she responds back..by calling out her first name. Yep, it's so obvious! Infact the girl Mina, was probably the best character out of this mediocity. But back to the killings!
Ha-Young goes crazy. Damien her 'friend' is dead and she blames blankly staring Hae-Mi for it. All the clues point to her and I mean why not? Nobody likes her anyway! But policeman-in-disguise-but-still-really-dumb-model Tae-Sung, handcuffs her to a pipe and runs off threatning Ms Im and Co. The other three misfits get killed off one by one which probably the most entertaining thing about this film. Tae-Sung gets his just desserts as well! Then Mrs Im madly wheels about after Hae-Mi. It seems Mrs Im, is actually - OTT moment required - the spirit of the doll who's master got killed by peasant villagers! Not only that, but she must kill the decendants of the villagers that killed him which is everyone she invited bar Tae-Sung.



After what seems like an eternity, Hae-Mi frees herself from the handcuffs..blood and all and runs to the nearest telephone. Not to phone the police, but to phone her mother about a family album. Is this girl just stupid??
She finds out that Mina is the doll she dropped from her window when she was like..5.
OMG what a CRAP story.
Needless to say I'm sure everyone would see that coming and just want the torture of this film to end. Hae-Mi runs, screams alot and finds Mrs Im's husband locked up in the basement. For absolutely NO REASON. He breaks free, and gives Mrs Im a good ol smack with an axe. Then the film ends.



So much disappointment and so many things left unexplained such as:
-Why was Mrs Im's husband locked in the basement?
-Mina seemed to be around longer than the house guests themselves.
-The complete waste of characters or lack of any good ones!
-The story itself!

Scare factor was zero, the special effects was quite good and the overacting reasonable as well. But the characters had no depth and no likability whatsoever. Infact I was glad when they got killed off - it seemed the character I was rooting for most, was the evil rejected doll Mina! Now that's saying something!

Overall: 4/10

About as entertaining as Hae-Mi.