Bad movies too good not to watch: “Dollman”

What’s trashier than a bunch of killing dolls? A bounty hunter the size of a doll. Does Albert Pyun’s sci-fi action Dollman deliver another violent entertainment romp like Cyborg?

Dollman
(USA 1991, director: Albert Pyun)

Bounty hunter Brick Bardo accidentally lands on Earth after following a criminal mastermind, but both are shrunk to doll-size and wreak havoc on Brooklyn.

The film company Fullmoon is known for their low production values and usually violent content. But they’re also known to offer tongue-in-cheek emtertainment with often original ideas. Dollman is no different, as the special effects are quite terrible, acting is poor, and there’s not much of a story.

Still, the main idea of having a Dirty-Harry-like character in dollsize take on a gang in New York is genious. The shoot-outs are pretty violent with exploding heads and limbs flying around, although it’s not all non-stop gore. And that’s when the movie shows its problems. Even with a very short runtime of around 80 minutes, the dialogue scenes just slow down the action and don’t do much to sympathize with the Dollman. The size of him could also have lent itself to some more clever ideas with less shooting that could have been done by a normal-sized man. But when seeing him lift a small rod and hitting a bad guy unconscious or hanging on the side of a car, that’s just priceless fun.

So despite a very simple plot and forgettable characters (except for the over-the-top villains), Dollman is just plain fun to watch. 88 Films’ BD is also highly recommended, as it does not only have some good picture quality (with variations in certain scenes, prominently the special effects ones), but also includes reversible cover art in addition to bonus features like the “videozone” making-of, a trailer, vidcast, and booklet notes. This is certainly a company who knows what collectors like, even if the Dolls release didn’t have any bonus features (except the alternative cover art).

Score: 7/10

imdb

Buy the BD on
Amazon UK
Amazon USA
Buy the DVD on
Amazon UK
Amazon USA

88 Films Website

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