Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

ChanBot i must have seen a different film!!

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Aaron1375 This film was shown on the cult riffing television show, Mystery Science Theater 3000 and was most likely the only way I was ever going to see this film about a strange doll and his master. Bryant Haliday plays the ventriloquist/hypnotist in this one and he would also star in the film, "The Projected Man" which would also be lampooned by MST3K and was another film where things just did not turn out so well for him. The poor guy just could not catch a break. The film is not a totally horrible film as many films that are featured on MST3K are, but it is not really that good either. It is a case of rather good premise that really does not live up to its full potential as too many times things that make the film more interesting or would help it be more entertaining are either not really long scenes or left out entirely in lieu of scenes that really go no where and make the film a bit duller than a film featuring a killer ventriloquist dummy should be! How many times did we need to see the female lead in the film in her hospital bed? I would much rather of seen a more backstory on the Great Vorelli or more creepy Hugo stalking the halls.The story of the film has a man calling himself The Great Vorelli who has a show where he hypnotizes people and then for the finale argues with his ventriloquist dummy and insults it. As bad as this show sounds, it looks a lot more enjoyable than Dr. Carlo Lombardi's act in "She Creature" (another MST3K riffed film). All that guy did was ask his assistant questions and then shout, "The monster is coming!" when the show was losing its steam. In this film a man wants to do a story on the Great Vorelli and gets his fiancé or girlfriend to volunteer which turns out to be a big mistake. As Vorelli puts the moves on this girl, the newspaper man gets a strange visit, not from the Great Vorelli, but from Hugo, the ventriloquist doll! This was a rather funny episode of MST3K as it was just a good movie to work with though it was not necessarily a bad film. Granted, William Sylvester was kind of bad in it (the newspaper guy). His reactions just are not very good. When a ventriloquist dummy walks into his room he responds in a way that is less shocked and more like, "Why are you here at this hour?" Several times he seems to not react well to what is going on around him and MST3K calls him out on it. The jokes about the act and the whole arguing are good as well. The bumps are pretty funny too with the highlight coming when Tom becomes a toaster strudel.So it is not a super terrible film, but it just did not work for me. Bryant Haliday does a fine job in this one as he did as Paul in the Projected man, but William Sylvester was very bland. Surprising considering he was the more famous of the two men. I kind of wonder if the orange hair that Haliday sported in the "Projected Man" was his natural color because if so, then this film would have been thoroughly more disturbing in color! In the end, I cannot help but feel sorry for Bryant Haliday. In this film he ends up breaking up with his partner and then he would move on to projecting things and that would end up even worse for him!

JoeB131 and it was the MST3K guys who got to it first.Okay, trying to relate to this film on its own merits. The Great Vorelli is a hypnotist who puts the spirit of a young German boy into a dummy, but has a hard time controlling him while trying to seduce his way to a meal ticket rich British chick.In some ways, this proceeds the classic "Magic" with Anthony Hopkins as a whole "Ventriloquist's dummy goes horribly wrong" theme. Is it worth watching? Not really. It stuffs 30 minutes of plot into a 90 minute film.I realize that IMDb is a British site, but are you people just easier to scare than Americans? This movie wasn't scary at all!

bensonmum2 Devil Doll is one of those movies that, while it will never be confused with a masterpiece of horror, is effective in its on little way. Though the story is often predictable, it's creepy enough to provide a few chills along the way – not scary, just creepy. Ventriloquist dummies like Hugo have always given me the heebie-jeebies and when you give them a soul, a mind of their own, and the ability to move (not to mention a knife), it's the stuff of nightmares as far as I'm concerned. Finally, in the case of Devil Doll, the ending really works as the villainous Great Vorelli gets what he deserves. Though nowhere near as effective as the ending of Freaks, it's very reminiscent of that film's finale. On the downside, Devil Doll would have probably worked better at 60 minutes instead of 81. Not that there's an abundance of obvious padding, but there's hardly enough material to fill the extra 20 minutes. The acting is nothing to write home about. While Bryant Haliday is effectively villainous, William Sylvester is a complete bore as the film's hero. One thing that I really don't understand is the need for Vorelli to wear the fake beard. I mean no one was chasing him so why the need for a disguise? It's not really a criticism, just an odd observation. Lastly, it would have helped Devil Doll had the script given Yvonne Romain a little more to do. Her talents are wasted walking around in a trance for most of the movie.Devil Doll is another of those films that I've seen both with and without the Mystery Science Theater 3000 commentary. And while I enjoy the movie on its own, it makes for a really good MST3K episode. Some very funny riffs and some solid host segments. I'll rate the movie a 5/10 but give it a 4/5 on my MST3k rating scale.

ferbs54 What an act the Great Vorelli has, in the 1964 British horror thriller "Devil Doll"! Not only can he hypnotize audience volunteers to perform any kind of outlandish stunt, but he can also make his ventriloquist's dummy, Hugo, talk and act most uncannily lifelike. But how to explain Hugo's ability to locomote all by himself? That's what reporter Mark English (excellently portrayed by American actor William Sylvester) tries to find out, in this very effective little sleeper. While I would never dream of revealing Hugo's back story, I will say that he is a much creepier presence than the modern-day Chucky, if perhaps not as homicidal; the filmmakers of "Devil Doll" get maximum bang out of Hugo's merest eye movements and head turnings. It really is remarkable how much emotion can be inferred in the little puppet's homely mug; his is hardly a wooden performance! In addition to this living doll's eerie presence, the film boasts stunning B&W photography, uniformly fine acting (especially by Bryant Haliday as Vorelli, who comes off far more sinister here than the evil hypnotist played by Jose Ferrer in 1949's "Whirlpool"), intriguing FX (negative images, freeze frames) and a literate script. Despite the central doll character, this is very much an adult film that is not suitable for the kiddies. The crisp-looking DVD from Image that I just watched also includes the so-called "Continental" version of the film, which contains a striptease sequence and several bits of nudity not present in the American release. As does producer Richard Gordon, I prefer the American version, simply because the "racier" print excises an entire scene between Vorelli and his assistant Magda that helps us better understand Vorelli's character. Either version, though, is a surprisingly winning entertainment.