TUBI CONTINUED… DOLL KILLER 2 (2021) **

Doll Killer 2 is the movie that asks the question, “Would YOU allow yourself to be admitted to a psychiatric facility ran by Mel Novak and Scott Schwartz?”  I know I wouldn’t.  I don’t think any judge in their right mind would send me there either.  No wonder poor Stephanie (Breana Mitchell) is so screwed up.

You see, she had to watch as her friends were murdered by a psycho in a clown mask on Halloween night.  She then spent the next fifteen years in a psych ward under the care of Novak and Schwartz before eventually being sent home on Independence Day.  Of course, that just so happens to be the same day the killer escapes from the nuthouse.  It doesn’t take long for him to put on his mask, grab a knife, and set out to finish what he started all those years ago.  

You know, I never saw the first Doll Killer, but hey, when has that ever stopped me from checking out something that has the number “2” in it?  Actually, I wanted to watch Part 3 (which is also on Tubi) based on the thumbnail artwork alone, but I figured I might as well at least try to get some backstory before I take the plunge.  (The original Doll Killer is unfortunately nowhere to be found on Tubi.)  

If you go into the movie expecting a killer doll, you might be disappointed.  This guy is a Doll Killer.  As in, he leaves dolls next to the bodies of his victims.  I guess it all boils down to semantics, but if you’re watching this hoping to see some Puppet Master-type shenanigans, you can forget it.

Doll Killer 2 is actually an old-fashioned Halloween-inspired slasher.  Made on a super low budget, it’s a little bit different than the norm as the killer isn’t a silent hulking murderer.  He speaks a few times throughout the movie, which at the very least shows writer/director Dustin (Zombi VIII:  Urban Decay) Ferguson was coloring a bit outside the genre lines here.  Speaking of colors, the killer has a cool mask.  It kind of looks like a Lon Chaney Phantom of the Opera mask that’s been given a Day-Glo clown make-up makeover.  

No one will mistake Doll Killer 2 for high art, but it gets the job done in an efficient enough manner.  Ferguson even finds time to thrown in a couple of arty shots along the way.  It’s only fifty-one minutes long, so it moves at a reasonable pace.  If I saw the first one, I might’ve been pissed that a lot of the running time is devoted to flashbacks from the first movie, dreams, and dreams of flashbacks from the first movie.  Since I haven’t seen it, I wasn’t too bothered by all the (presumably) recycled footage or anything.  I could’ve done without the long amusement park scene though.  It could’ve stood to have a little more gore too.  Some gratuitous gore or even a little nudity would’ve easily bumped this up to a ** ½ rating.  

Doll Killer 2 is not a great slasher by any means.  However, as far as the microbudget ones go, you can do way worse.  I’m all geared up for Part 3.