Review: Dorothy Mills (2009)

After playing a few festivals in 2008, Dorothy Mills is finally being released on DVD everywhere...

Sub-Genre- Possession
Cast Members of Note- Carice van Houten, Jenn Murray, and Gary Lewis.

Dorothy Mills is a creepy little girl that looks like an albino version of Nellie Olson from Little House on the Prairie. She's also a horrible babysitter; jamming bottles into infants faces and screaming at them about how bad they are. She may also be schizophrenic or possessed, and a nymphomaniac alcoholic to boot. She apparently has issues.

If that picture doesn't creep you out, I'm not sure what will.

She lives on a creepy little Irish Island where everyone seems to have issues of their own, including, but not limited to; driving people into lakes, rape, animal cruelty, mass-animal-murder, incest, their love of the electric guitar, exorcism, and an obsessive love of karaoke. So needless to say that when a smoking hot psychiatrist shows up to diagnose little albino Nellie Olson, things obviously don't go smoothly.

That slip sure looks smooth though...

Is Nellie/Dorothy possessed, or just a nut-bag? Is everyone on the Island hiding a terrible secret? Will that blind old woman ever stop being creepy? I won't spoil the ending for you here, but suffice it to say that It was actually more satisfying than the movie that preceded it.

Stop staring at me!

This film is beautiful to look at, is dripping with atmosphere, and does a good job of maintaining unease and a subtle feeling of dread throughout. It's a different kind of creepy, mainly brought on by the creepy-ass Irish Islanders, rather than some totally evil force as we had expected.

This isn't an Exorcist clone/ripoff/tribute as the poster and synopsis might imply, and it's not much like The Bad Seed/The Good Son either... it isn't even a conventional Horror movie in some ways. The plot is more along the lines of "bad things that bad people do to each other" with a slight supernatural twist.

I was hoping for more of a Demonic Possession type of thing, but I was pleasantly surprised with what I got, none the less.

Run, bitch! Run for your life and get some help!

Was the "Possessed" swearing and carrying on supposed to be scary? Dorothy's quiet moments were far creepier than were her outbreaks, and though they fit with the story, I'd have preferred to see more subtlety. I guess I keep looking for The Exorcist in every "Possession" movie I see, with very few coming close to its level of execution.That's mostly my issue though, I suppose.

Somebody done pissed off the wrong albino.

Did all of the sheep have to go? That was just cruel, man.

Looks like it's lamb for dinner, boys.

 

Deer violence, sheep mass-murder, baby feeding violence, handgun violence, and a bloody nose.

Nope.

"Go and see in the church. She let the Devil into her house." or "She left us, without a word of her destination."

The lesson here is to avoid small Island communities that call you "outsider."

"God fearin' backwoods folk" are the same everywhere, whether in Ireland or Alabama. Also, never trust the Irish.

... and I mean NEVER trust the Irish. *I'm Irish, trust me, I know.

Dorothy Mills was a very well made film, with solid performances from its actors, and it's got atmosphere to spare, the only problem is it's not very scary. This is definitely not a typical Possession movie, nor is it a killer kid flick; rather it's a subtle and nuanced psych job of a Horror Thriller which is sure to please if you like thinkers. Definitely check it out, but just don't expect it to be straight-up "Horror."

C

Dorothy Mills is available on DVD now.

Carice van Houten is hot.