*Major Spoilers Follow*

Dimension Films is notorious for snatching up films at the world markets and then dumping them onto DVD. While a lot of the films deserve a theatrical run (INSIDE, MARTYRS), most of the others are pretty high quality direct-to-disc releases. To say the least, I was pretty hyped up for this little psychological thriller from Ireland, but unfortunately this might be the worst of the bunch.

DOROTHY MILLS follows Jane Morton, a psychiatrist in mourning after the accidental death of her son, who is assigned the case of Dorothy Mills, a 15-year-old girl from a small Irish island, accused of attempting to murder a baby in her charge.

A strong opening takes us into the house where Dorothy is abusing a small child. With a cut-away, we’re left wondering what exactly was going on with the crazy babysitter.

As Jane enters the town to question Dorothy, she’s run off the road by two cars playing a game of cat and mouse. After nearly drowning, she heads into this odd little town that has the vibe of the classic WICKER MAN. Something is definitely amiss in this town and it quickly becomes apparent that the town’s people are in on whatever the hell is going on.

The screenplay by Agnès Merlet and Juliette Sales is just about the laziest thing I’ve seen in a long while. It’s revealed early on that Dorothy is being used to “channel” the dead, while Morton assumes it’s just a simple case of multiple personalities. The duo does nothing to confuse us into wondering which is truth and which is fiction. It’s 100% clear that Dorothy can bring out the dead and it’s 100% clear that she doesn’t have multiple personalities. Herein lies the problem – DOROTHY MILLS has 0% suspense.

To make matters worse, the first 60 minutes of the film follows Jane as she patronizes us by trying to diagnose Dorothy, while Dorothy is out and about acting as different characters around town. Literally NOTHING happens. The only “creep” factor that’s injected in this borefest is that the children who drove Jane off the road are discovered to be dead (cue the musical sting).

Do the math and solve the simple math problem. The dead speak through Dorothy + Dorothy tried to kill some man’s baby + the teens who were driving are dead (in the middle of a chase) = revenge (cue musical sting part deux). And just wait until you see reason for the chase, which I consider a cheap way of tying it all together.

What should have been a cool concept is cheapened by a lackluster story that starts nowhere and goes even further into the abyss. Even Jenn Murray ‘s performance as Dorothy couldn’t save this atrocity caught on film. You’d have to be possessed to take a chance renting this nitwitted thriller.