Blood Dolls (1999)

(In French, On Cable TV, August 2021) The more I watch entries in low-budget genre producer-writer-director Charles Band’s filmography, the more I’m gradually beaten into submission by appreciating what he’s trying to do. Blood Dolls, for instance, is not a good movie. It’s clunky, dubiously “funny,” nonsensical even at the best of times, and considerably less accomplished than what it intended. Consider that the film has to do with an evil billionaire (or rather ex-billionaire) who transforms enemies in often horribly racist dolls that do his bidding, which is to kill his opponents. This is not high-ambition material, but there’s something almost charming in the way the zany elements are put together. More to the point, I found that the film eventually set up an interesting relationship between its anti-hero and an equally bad antagonist, filled with romantic rivalry and murderous intentions. (Debra Mayer spends most of her screen time in a dominatrix outfit — Band has faults, but he got that one right.)  Clearly, the dialogue and direction and, well, everything else can’t quite catch up to the potential outlined here. But the film does have its distinctions in a crowded horror filed that often has far less to offer. And that, despite low production values and often-moronic intention, is something I’m noticing across the Band filmography — it sets itself apart with a few things that you won’t find anywhere else, and that’s practically a rarity in low-budget horror filmmaking. I may not like the result all that much, but I respect the intention, and the more I watch his films, the more I’m willing to appreciate the results.