DOLLY – Movie Review | Fantastic Fest (3/5)

DOLLY is a new extreme horror movie made in the vein of 1970s slashers but set in our present-day world. World Premiering at Fantastic Fest 2025, where it should definitely reach its ideal audience. Read our full Dolly (2025) horror movie review here!

DOLLY is a horror movie getting its World Premiere at Fantastic Fest 2025. It’s the kind of slasher where you should stay seated until the very end to make sure you watch all of it.

Despite playing out in the present, it’s made exactly like a 1970s horror movie. Even the masked villain has a lot in common with those iconic horror villains. The runtime is just 1 hour and 22 minutes, so it’s an extreme but short watch.

Continue reading our 2025 Dolly horror movie review below.

Perfect for fans of old school slashers

Dolly quickly turns into a survival story for Macy (Fabienne Therese). She’s a young woman who was just supposed to go camping in the woods for a weekend with her boyfriend, Chase (Seann William Scott).

However, they don’t make it very far into their trip before they come across their first warning: Dolls. Lots and lots of dolls. On the ground, hanging from trees, nailed to trees.

Seeing lots of dolls on some strange display in the middle of a forest is never a good sign.

Very soon, Macy is abducted by a strange monster-like figure. Someone big and strong, wearing a doll’s head mask. Also, this person kills violently and seems very difficult to fight back against.

Finally, Macy quickly learns that “Dolly” (Max the Impaler – yes, you read that right) wants to raise Macy as their own child. Oh yes, get ready for everything that entails.

An iconic new Horror Villain

With Dolly, we’re getting a brand new 1970s-style slasher villain, but with a present-day movie and characters who feel confident that what’s going on cannot be real.

We’re talking about a villain comparable to Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and even Leatherface. Not only due to the fact that Dolly wears a mask, but also in terms of dysfunctional family patterns, and a tenacious ability to stay alive.

No matter how much blood they lose.

Also, you can run while they walk, and you still cannot get away. Again, Dolly comes across like a wonderful homage to the extreme slashers of the 1970s, and fans of those movies should have a blast with this one.

Dolly World Premiere at Fantastic Fest

The 2025 Dolly slasher comes from director Rod Blackhurst, who previously gave us the zombie horror drama Here Alone (2016), which I really enjoyed. The screenplay is written by Rod Blackhurst & Brandon Weavil (his feature debut).

For this latest, and very different, horror movie, it’s much more about the visual horror and extreme discomfort. Here Alone was more of a horror drama with thriller and sci-fi elements.

Admittedly, I preferred his 2016 movie, but that should take nothing away from this 2025 release. Dolly is an extreme experience that dives headfirst into the vibe of 1970s slasher with lots of deliciously wild practical effects.

Dolly (2025) had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest 2025.

Details

Director: Rod Blackhurst
Writers: Rod Blackhurst, Brandon Weavil
Cast: Fabianne Therese, Seann William Scott, Ethan Suplee, Max the Impaler