Thursday, March 16, 2023

TUBI CONTINUED… DOLL KILLER 3: AUDRA’S REVENGE (2023) **

Okay, so remember in yesterday’s review of Doll Killer 2 when I said it was padded with lots of scenes from the first movie, but since I hadn’t seen the original, it wasn’t a big deal?  Well, Part 3 is padded with scenes from Part 2, which is kind of a big deal since I just saw Part 2 yesterday, and I didn’t exactly need to see them again.  The weird thing is, Part 2 was fifty-one minutes long and this one is only forty-four.  You’d think writer/director Dustin Ferguson would’ve just combined the two pictures into one ninety-five-minute movie, but no.  Then again, if he did that, I wouldn’t be sitting here reviewing Doll Killer 3:  Audra’s Revenge. 

Oh, and remember how I said in yesterday’s review of Doll Killer 2 that if you’re expecting a movie about a killer doll you’re going to be disappointed as it’s about a killer who leaves dolls on the bodies of his victims?  Well, there IS a killer doll in this one named Audra.  However, she’s only in it for like a minute and the special effect basically boils down to a crew member throwing a doll at an actress from just offscreen.  So, if you go in expecting a killer doll flick, you’re still probably going to be disappointed, even though there is actually a killer doll this time out. 

Doll Killer 3:  Audra’s Revenge is kind of like 300:  Rise of an Empire as it is sort of a “sidequel.”  That is to say that the film is happening at more or less the same time as the events from the last movie.  While Stephanie (Breana Mitchell) is off on her date, the psycho in the clown mask stalks and kills more people before setting his sights on some grown-ass adults having a slumber party.  Eventually, he tries to finish Stephanie off as she recovers from her wounds at a nearby hospital. 

The first seven minutes or so are devoted to opening credits and scenes from the first film.  If you also count the end credits and occasional cutaways to scenes from Part 2 that are sprinkled throughout, there’s probably only about a half-hour’s worth of new footage here.  In all fairness, the new scenes aren’t bad.  I liked the sequence where the killer stalks a New Age practitioner (co-writer Traci Burr) who screams, “I should’ve studied Scientology!” as she’s being chased.  Ferguson once again delivers a few arty shots, and ends things with a solid Halloween 2 homage with a final showdown in a hospital.  (Although why anyone would leave a hacksaw on a patient’s bedside table is beyond me.)  Unfortunately, Lisa (Darling Nikki) London, the best actress in the film, is unceremoniously killed off. 

If you took the best parts from 2 and 3 and added them together in a blender (with maybe a little bit more gore and T & A), you might have yourself the making of one good slasher.  As it stands, you’re stuck with two hit-and-miss horror flicks.  At least they’re short.

AKA:  Doll Killer 3.

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