Slasher movies really don’t need to reinvent the wheel. We don’t need a big backstory, we don’t need to know if the killer was an outcast and bullied as a kid. There’s some messed up stuff in our daily lives as is. Dolly is one of those slashers that doesn’t give you an inch of backstory and it works all the better for it. You get the setup of how and why our two main characters are in the predicament that they’re in, but other than that, you follow the deranged journey of a woman trying to break out of a screwed up situation.
Dolly comes from writer/director Rod Blackhurst. It’s easy to see that Blackhurst is a fan of classics like Tourist Trap or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Dolly has a similar look and feel to those 70s and early 80s slashers. It’s dirty, dingy, and sweaty. Not quite so much as TCM, but there’s still some claustrophobic and nasty sections, just from a look and feel standpoint. It follows the couple of Macy (played by Fabianne Therese) and Chase (played by Seann William Scott) as they go on a wilderness retreat and drop off Chase’s daughter with her aunt. The only real backstory of the movie is from this opening section where there are doubts from Macy about marrying Chase.
Once they get to the woods, all of that is thrown out the window because on their hike, they find some creepy dolls on the trail. As Chase and Macy look out into the wilderness with a breathtaking view, they hear some strange sounds off in the distance. Chase goes to investigate and finds Dolly (played by Max the Impaler).
So, we can see that Dolly has plenty of inspirations on its sleeve and there’s a back-to-basics kind of filmmaking going on here. But does it work? Well, it really does. Dolly flies by; it’s not a long movie already, coming in at 83 minutes. You’re in, you’re out, and left satisfied. The movie does slow down a bit in the middle section and when it tries to give a little bit of backstory to Dolly, it does falter a bit. It’s not much, but the section involving Tobe (played by Ethan Suplee) is the weakest section of the film.
Dolly ends up as a grim film with some exemplary gore. These days, horror audiences are inundated with blood and gore. We’ve seen it all, and yet, Dolly has some pieces, mostly involving Seann William Scott, that are shocking. I was sitting here going “OHHHHHHH” at my screen watching the film.
The film doesn’t steal the feelings and stylings of other films from the past, it celebrates those tropes and extremes. From the look and feel of the surroundings, to the way the camera catches the action, and the performance from final girl Fabianne Therese, this is a throwback film. Dolly would fit best at a drive-in or some repertory theater like the New Beverly in Los Angeles.
Between some great old-school vibes and the no nonsense plot, Dolly is a fit for both experienced and rookie horror hounds alike.
Dolly releases in theaters on March 6th, 2026.
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