Movies
Dorothy Mills (V)
“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.”
*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.
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallis.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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