Dorothy Mills
Sub-Genre- Possession
In Attendance- Me
Cast Members of Note- Carice van Houten, Jenn Murray, Gary Lewis.
What's it about?- Dorothy Mills is a creepy little girl that looks like an albino version of Nellie Olson from Little House on the Prairie... she's also a horrible babysitter, jamming bottles into infants faces and screaming at them about how bad they are. She may also be schizophrenic or possessed, and a nymphomaniac alcoholic. She apparently has issues.
She lives on a creepy little Irish Island where everyone seems to have issues of their own, including, but not limited to; driving people into lakes, rape, animal cruelty, mass animal murder, incest, their love of electric guitar, exorcism and obsessive karaoke. When a hot psychiatrist shows up to diagnose little albino Nellie Olson, things obviously don't go smoothly.
Is Nellie/Dorothy possessed, or just a nutbag? Is everyone on the Island hiding a terrible secret? Will the truth ever be known? Will that blind old woman ever stop being creepy? I wont spoil the ending here, but suffice it to say that I was actually satisfied by the ending.
The Good- This film is beautiful to look at, is dripping with atmosphere, and does a good job of maintaining unease and a subtle dread throughout. It's a different kind of creepy, mainly brought on by the creepy ass Irish Islanders rather than some totally evil force.
This isn't an Exorcist clone/ripoff/tribute as the poster and synopsis might imply, it's not much like The Bad Seed/The Good Son either... it isn't even conventional horror in some ways; yet the dread remains, and you can't help feeling it for the movie's entire running time. It's more along the lines of bad things that bad people do to each other, with a supernatural twist.
I was hoping for more of an "evil demon possession" type of thing, but I was pleasantly surprised with what I got, none the less.
The Bad- Was the "possessed" swearing and carrying on supposed to be scary? Dorothy's quiet moments were far creepier than her outbreaks, and though they fit with the story, I'd have preferred to see more subtlety. I guess I keep looking for The Exorcist in every "Possession" movie I see, with very few coming close to it's level of execution.
The Downright Horrendous- Did all of the sheep have to go? That was just cruel man.
The Gory- Deer violence, sheep mass murder, baby feeding violence, handgun violence, and a bloody nose.
The Naked- Nope.
Best Line- "Go and see in the church. She let the devil into her house." or "She left us, without a word of her destination."
What did we learn?- "God fearin' backwood folk" are the same everywhere, whether in Ireland or Alabama. Also, never trust the Irish.
Rating- C Dorothy Mills was a very well made film, with solid performances from its actors and atmosphere to spare, the only problem is it's not very scary. This is definitely not an in your face possession movie, nor is it a killer kid flick; rather it's a subtle and nuanced psych job of a horror thriller which is sure to please if you like thinkers. Definitely check it out, but don't expect straight out "Horror."
Final Thoughts- Carice Van Houten is hot.
