The Dollmaker

All the velvet is bright blue down the creepy carpeted halls of the ultra-stylized Argentinian horror picture, The Dollmaker, directed by Jose Maria Cicala, and written by Cicala and Griselda Sanchez. Set a few decades ago, as the audience enters the quaint village of Palacios, a welcome sign lets you know it is a town with no troubles. Tomas (Rodrigo Noya) works in the local video store, where he and other employees have to wear Boy Scout uniforms. He also does part-time work at the hospital: setting up rooms for therapy, as well as maintaining the handmade resuscitation dummies for training. Tomas makes the dummies himself at home, along with all the rest of the dolls he has made, some from discarded parts from the trash. He lives with his ailing mother (Alejandra Baldoni), who is constantly falling when she tries to get around. This causes Tomas, the dutiful son, to tie her to a chair when he leaves the house, for her own good.

Tina (Griselda Sanchez) screams, her face streaked with blood, in a pivotal scene from The Dollmaker.

“Meanwhile, young women around town keep disappearing, and the local police department treats it as no big deal.”

Tomas is soon smitten by Tina (Griselda Sanchez), who appears at one of the hospital’s group therapy sessions, run by Dr. Palacios (Arturo Puig) himself. Tina is a single mother recovering from trauma, who is working as a waitress at Trixie’s, the town’s retro diner. Tomas immediately tells his mother about Tina, and he hopes they may soon get together. Meanwhile, young women around town keep disappearing, and the local police department treats it as no big deal. Despite being told to leave it alone by the police chief, the cops soon find out that the girls all shared one thing in common: unreturned late videos from the video shop. They are also suspicious of the locked room in the back of the video store, which even Tomas is not allowed to enter…

Part of what makes The Dollmaker the poster child for cult horror stardom is Cicala’s devotion to the work of the late great David Lynch. Cicala doesn’t hide this influence behind a wall of red curtains; he proudly parades it, along with the aforementioned red curtains. Tomas’s mailbox says Lynch Family on it. The Boy Scout-themed video store references Lynch’s famous scout member childhood. Trixie’s is very close to the Double R diner from Twin Peaks, but with a lot more partying and drag queens. The whole wholesome facade the town projects also mirrors the town of Twin Peaks, as well as Lumberton from Blue Velvet. Cicala also updates Lynch’s 50s obsessions with an analog lust of 90s throwback.