Trish (Andrea Walters) and Bobby Keller (Philip Boatwright) are wandering around an old antiques store when they come upon a creepy looking fortune telling machine. The machine is called Madam Zerba. Trish puts a dime in the machine and holds her palm up against the glass. The fortune telling doll inside slowly turns. Madame Zerba (voice of Lilyan Chauvin) warns about hard times ahead for her and her baby. Trish is taken aback. Trish just found out that day that she was pregnant. Even Bobby didn’t know. Now that he does know he is excited, but Trish is startled at how the machine knew. Bobby says it didn’t. He says the machine just says general statements that could apply to a lot of people. Bobby puts a dime in the machine but doesn’t put his hand up against the glass. Madam Zerba tells him again to put his hand in front of Madam Zerba’s eyes. A little discomfited, Bobby complies. Madam Zerba tells him that his lifeline is growing short. Then the machine shuts off.
Not long after that Bobby dies in a fire. Trish begins getting strange phone calls, so she moves from her old apartment to a new one. When Trish returns to her old apartment to pick up her mail, she learns that the woman who took over the apartment was stabbed to death. Trish begins to feel that someone is stalking her. Whoever was after her has managed to follow her to her new apartment. Trish tries to call her brother, but he is out of town. She reaches out to her brother-in-law, Dillon Keller (William Dance) but can’t get a hold of him. She flees to the home of her ex-sister-in-law, Anna Perry (Jennifer Davis). Anna used to be married to Trish’s brother. Anna is a little bitter about the divorce, but she takes Trish in.
Trish becomes obsessed with the fortune telling machine. She believes that it holds the answer as to who is trying to kill her. She decides to sneak into the antique store to question the fortune telling machine, convinced it will tell her what she wants to know, but she isn’t alone.
“Death Doll” was released in 1989 and was produced and directed by William Mims. It is a low budget independent American horror movie and a psychological thriller. The movie is a little on the obscure side. As far as I know it’s only been released on VHS and never in the U.S. The quality of the film is a little sketchy. Some sources state that the film was released twice, once in 1984 and again in 1989 with some minor differences. I have the 1989 version.
Production values were a little skimpy, but some of cheapness added a little to the overall creep factor. It is a slow burning tale with a really long death scene in it. Plot holes are prevalent. There are some red herrings as well. There are a lot of things wrong with the film, but there are also some surprisingly interesting things about it too. There isn’t a lot of gore involved here; the film is more of a psychological thriller. Even though it’s not your typical slasher film, it is a little on the scary side. There is plenty of eerie atmosphere to keep you watching.
The title is rather misleading. It’s not the doll that is doing the killing. The hidden killer has an obsession with dolls that revealed at the end. Until then there are creepy dolls randomly placed. Despite all the negative issues with the film, it is still a fascinating watch, even if it is just for its obscure nature. It’s certainly worth checking out.
In one spot, the ending credits say “Madame Zebra created by Jason Cardwell” instead of Madame Zerba.