''Doll Graveyard'' is a 2005

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

released by

Full Moon Features Full Moon Features is an American independent motion picture production and distribution company headed by B-movie veteran Charles Band. It is known for the direct-to-video series '' Puppet Master'', '' Trancers'', and ''Subspecies'', as well as ...

and directed by

Charles Band Charles Robert Band (born December 27, 1951) is an American film producer and director, known for his work on horror comedy movies. Career Band entered film production in the 1970s with Charles Band Productions. Dissatisfied with distributo ...

. It involves four

haunted doll A haunted doll is a handmade or manufactured doll or stuffed toy that is claimed to be cursed or possessed in some way. History According to Linda Rodriguez McRobbie, the concept of malevolent dolls gained attention in the 20th century when ...

s that are possessed by the spirit of a young girl and come to life with murderous intentions.

Plot

Los Angeles 1911: Cyril, an abusive father finds his daughter Sophia, playing in a room she is not supposed to be in. As punishment, he forces her to bury her four beloved handmade dolls (an African

warrior A warrior is a guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal society, tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, social class, class, or caste. History ...

, a German

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The wo ...

, a porcelain girl, and a

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

) in their backyard, despite her pleas. When Sophia accidentally falls into the doll's grave and breaks her neck, Cyril buries her with the dolls to conceal the accident, unknowingly with his gold pocket watch. Los Angeles, 2005: the house is now occupied by the Fillbrook family: Nerdy high school freshman Guy (who collects limited edition action figures), his slightly older teenage sister Deedee, and their single father Lester. Lester prepares for a date, instructing DeeDee to babysit Guy while he is out as well as giving them chores: Guy is tasked with yard work while DeeDee is told to clean up the house. While raking, Guy discovers a Samurai's miniature katana sticking up from the dirt and eventually digs up the Samurai doll himself. Before Lester leaves, DeeDee catches him staring hypnotized at a gold pocket watch, which he says he found in the backyard. Once he leaves, DeeDee invites her friends, promiscuous party girl Olivia and shy Terri over to party. Olivia secretly invites two boys, Tom and Rich, who regularly bully Guy. Guy agrees to keep the party a secret after Terri is nice to him away from the others and they discuss action figures. The boys ambush Guy in his room once they arrive, insult him, tie his hands up, and break one of his precious action figures before leaving to party with the girls. This angers Sophia's spirit which possesses the samurai doll, resurrects the other buried dolls and puts Guy (whose hands are still tied) in a trance-like state. DeeDee takes Tom upstairs to have sex after everyone (except Terri) smoke and drink. She handcuffs Tom and begins to take his clothes off before going to a closet to grab “something else”. While she is searching her closet, the German Soldier enters the room and stabs Tom in the crotch with his elongated

pickelhaube The (; , ; from , and , , a general word for "headgear"), also , is a spiked leather or metal helmet that was worn in the 19th and 20th centuries by Prussian and German soldiers of all ranks, as well as firefighters and police. Although it ...

. Hearing his screams, DeeDee tries to help him while calling downstairs for help. Downstairs, the music is too loud for Olivia to hear who is dancing by herself after Rich refused her advances. Terri insists on cleaning up before Lester returns home and Rich, wanting to have sex with Terri, offers to help her clean. She refuses him and goes upstairs to find Guy. Olivia goes upstairs to DeeDee and Tom, who has bled out, when the German Soldier, who is equipped with a tiny Luger, begins shooting at them. They run downstairs in time to see Ooga Booga standing on a table of a heavily intoxicated Rich. The doll stabs Rich's eye with his spear then slices his throat, killing him. Upstairs, Terri finds Guy and frees him when the Samurai tries attacking her but stops when Guy commands it to. They make their way downstairs where DeeDee and Olivia are trying to get her cell phone from the porcelain girl doll. The doll, whose face is cracked open in a jagged smile, attacks Olivia biting her face and hand and DeeDee starts hitting it with a fire poker when Sophia possesses Guy. While possessed, he protects the dolls and calling himself Sophia. He knocks over a vase just as his father walks through the front door, mirroring the first scene of the movie when Cyril finds Sophia in the forbidden room. Lester is seemingly hypnotized by Cyril's watch into acting like Cyril and starts berating Guy/Sophia. The dolls all attack Lester at once which snaps him out of his trance. He calls out to Guy which seems to break Sophia's possession over him. Guy gathers the dolls and insists they bury them again to put Sophia's spirit at rest, which they do immediately. As the girls stand together looking at the dolls in the hole, Guy slips behind a stone pillar and the camera slowly follows him around the corner, revealing a zombified Sophia staring back at the viewer.

Cast and characters

*Jared Kusnitz as Guy Fillbrook, a nerdy high school freshman who collects special edition action figures *Gabrielle Lynn as DeeDee Fillbrook, a few years older than Guy but still in high school *Anna Alicia Brock as Terri, DeeDee's newer friend, she is shy and shares an interest in Guy and his action figures *Kristyn Green as Olivia, DeeDee's promiscuous friend, she has previously hooked up with Rich *Brian Lloyd as Rich, a jock who bullies Guy *Scott Seymour as Tom, a jock who bullies Guy *Ken Lyle as Lester Fillbrook/Cyril Lester is DeeDee & Guy's single father / Cyril is Sophia's abusive father, both characters are portrayed by Ken Lyle *

Hannah Marks Hannah Marks (born April 13, 1993) is an American actress, writer, and director. She is best known for directing the films '' After Everything'' (2018), ''Don't Make Me Go'' (2022), and ''Turtles All the Way Down'' (2024). She also played Amanda ...

as Sophia, a young girl who dies accidentally and is buried by Cyril, now a vengeful spirit

The Dolls

* Ooga Booga - possibly modeled after an African warrior, the character is a reference to the Zuni fetish doll from

Trilogy of Terror ''Trilogy of Terror'' is a 1975 American made-for-television anthology horror film directed by Dan Curtis and starring Karen Black. It features three segments, each based on unrelated short stories by Richard Matheson. The first follows a col ...

and carries a sharp spear. The spin off film, Ooga Booga, stars

Karen Black Karen Blanche Black (née Ziegler; July 1, 1939 – August 8, 2013) was an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She rose to prominence for her work in various studio and independent films in the 1970s, frequently portr ...

who, decades before, starred in the original ''Trilogy of Terror''. * German Soldier - carries a mini

Luger pistol The Pistole Parabellum or Parabellum-Pistole (Pistol Parabellum), commonly known as just the Luger or Luger P08, is a toggle-locked recoil-operated semi-automatic pistol. The Luger was produced in several models and by several nations from 1 ...

and has a helmet with a long metal spike on top of it * Porcelain Girl - her face is cracked open in a way that gives her an ear to ear grin of jagged porcelain (a

Glasgow smile A Glasgow smile (also known as a Chelsea grin/smile, or a Glasgow, Smiley, Huyton, A buck 50, forced smile or Cheshire grin) is a wound caused by making a cut from the corners of a victim's mouth up to the ears, leaving a scar in the shape o ...

) * Samurai - carries a mini

katana A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...

Release

The film was initially released in October 2005 on DVD. It has since been included in several DVD collections of Full Moon films or other straight-to-DVD horrors.

Reception

Critical reaction to the film has been mixed to negative. ''DreadCentral.com'' gave the film a mostly negative review saying that while the dolls featured in the film are somewhat intriguing in their gimmicks but ultimately pale imitations of some of Band's previous puppet and doll creations. The reviewer, Jon Condit, also compared ''Doll Graveyard'' to Full Moon's other film released around the same time, '' The Gingerdead Man'', but cites the latter film's supporting characters as being more interesting than those in the former. Condit awarded the film 2/5 knives (stars).

Spin off

Ooga Booga, a film based on the African warrior doll, was released March 12, 2013.

In Popular culture

The doll Ooga Booga has appeared multiple times in the ''

Evil Bong ''Evil Bong'' is a 2006 American stoner horror comedy film directed by Charles Band about a group of stoners who smoke from a sentient, malevolent bong that traps the smoker in The Bong World, a surreal realm filled with killer strippers and ot ...

'' film series, another Full Moon franchise. In the first film, masturbating to strippers in the Bong World. In Evil Bong 420, attacking a redneck, And in The Gingerweed Man, as a secondary protagonist.

References

External links

*
Full Moon Direct (official site)
{{Charles Band 2005 horror films 2005 films 2000s supernatural horror films Films set in 1911 Films set in 2005 Films set in Los Angeles American supernatural horror films American slasher films Supernatural slasher films Films directed by Charles Band Puppet films Films about haunted dolls Films about sentient toys Horror films about toys 2000s English-language films 2000s American films 2000s slasher films Films about child abuse Films about father–daughter relationships English-language horror films