BLACK
DEVIL DOLL FROM HELL (1984)
Directed by Chester Turner
Truegore Video DVD-R
Reviewed 07.28.05
Buy
it from Truegore Video!
Review by Joseph A. Ziemba
THE FILM
Finally, someone’s gonna set
the world straight. We all know
that if you have sex, you’re
headed straight to hell. We all
know if you defile the Bible, you’re
going straight to hell. So what
happens to poor Helen when she enjoys
the pleasures of a small, wooden
friend and throws her Bible in the
trash?
Helen: ”I didn’t know
it could be this beautiful...it
really happened...it was marvelous.”
Black Devil Doll From Hell: “How
d’ya like that, bitch? I’m
gonna give ya a lesson in pain!
I’m gonna fuck you!”
Helen: “Oh yes, my puppet...”
Breathe easy, friend! It’s
Black Devil Doll From Hell,
the early shot on video (SOV) blaxploitation
cesspool from mysterious auteur
Chester Turner. Easily the most
vile, scummed up, deranged, and
hysterical film to ever
be scored with a Casiotone CT-310,
Black Devil Doll’s
flamboyance cannot be overstated.
Forget the tug between “good”
and “bad” filmmaking;
there’s nothing else like
this anywhere on the planet. And
there never will be again. In some
far off bizarro world, Dave Chappelle
and John Waters got together over
lunch, shot the shit, and left with
a napkin-scrawled script. One camcorder
later and...well, you do the math.
Six minute opening credit sequence,
complete with dorm room guitar wailing.
A fine Sunday at mass. Religious
knick-knack montage. And away we
go! Helen (Shirley L. Jones) is
a God-fearing church goer, forever
supressing her “fornicating”
desires. After the chance discovery
of a rasta-fied ventriloquist dummy
in an antique shop, Helen lets it
loose. Enticed by the shopkeeper’s
hard sell (“It will grant
any heartfelt wish...and always
returns to the store.”), Helen
grabs the doll and heads for home.
The doll sets up shop in his new
digs -- on top of the toilet. That's
also where Ms. H wraps the little
guy's arms in nylons, saying "These
will make you a shade darker..."
Helen soaps up in the shower, begins
fantasizing about forbidden experiences
with her new friend. Suppress, Helen,
SUPPRESS! Too late. That night,
the Devil Doll awakens. Love is
in the air. Can Helen handle the
carnal juggernaut that is Black
Devil Doll?!
Is it offensive? No question. Is
it hilarious? Most certainly. Will
I ever watch it again? Uh, probably
not. Nevertheless, Black Devil
Doll remains relentless in
its hilarity for a full 73 minutes,
hitting new lows in sustained SOV
dirtiness. From the painfully stupid
religious morality to the lowest
of low in extended, ghetto hump
scenes (boobs, sweat, puppet, nothing
else), director Turner lays the
skank on thick. Witness a little
kid standing in for the Doll’s
movements (!); extended disco jamz
at hole-in-the-wall joint Elmo’s
Lounge; pre-sex smoke bombs in the
doll’s mouth; a long, wet
puppet tongue, covered in mayonnaise...you
know, the works! Impossible to summarize
and exhaustive overall, this film
is degenerative 80s sleaze at its
most bizarre; filthy, but unthinkable
to take at face value.
And what about the guy who actually
made this?! Chester Turner went
on to video-cam the impossible-to-find
Tales
From The Quadead Zone a
few years later. My mind can only
shiver at the thought of a follow
up film...
AUDIO AND VIDEO
Truegore’s DVD-R looks and
sounds excellent, as if the shrink-wrap
was cracked open fresh in 1984.
A few video drops pop up, but that’s
real authenticity if you ask me.
Compression artifacting was nil.
Aside from a never-touched VHS tape,
I doubt this film will ever look
much better.
EXTRAS
About forty minutes of blue screen
tape roll, if you must know.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Do you even need to ask? Perhaps
the ultimate degenerate party film,
the odd sleaze of Black Devil
Doll From Hell must be seen
at all costs...at least once. Sure,
you might feel downright gross afterwards
(Helen cleans the house!), but we
all have to make sacrifices for
the higher cause. Right, Helen?
Helen...?
|
Star Search: FOUND
Damn, girl
Kids bop
Stank breath
|
