Black Devil Doll From Hell

Black Devil Doll From Hell is a 1984 American blaxploitation horror film written, produced, and directed by Chester Novell Turner, in his directorial debut. The film stars Shirley L. Jones.

Black Devil Doll From Hell
VHS artwork for the Hollywood Home Video release
Directed byChester Novell Turner
Produced byChester Novell Turner
Written byChester Novell Turner
StarringShirley L. Jones
Gladys Ames
Bernard Brown
Music byChester Novell Turner
CinematographyAnna Holiday
Edited byChester Novell Turner
David Ichikawa (recut)
Production
company
C.N.T. Production Company
Distributed byHollywood Home Video (VHS)
Massacre Video (DVD)
Release date
1984 (VHS)
2013 (DVD)
Running time
70 minutes (1984 version)
140 minutes (director's cut)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$10,000[1]

A copy of the film is held in the Yale University Libraries' archives.[2]

Plot

Helen Black is a religious young woman who is determined to abstain from sex until marriage. This all changes once she purchases a supposedly haunted doll from a thrift store, after which point Helen's sex drive becomes insatiable.

Cast
  • Shirley L. Jones as Helen Black
  • Obie Dunson as Preacher
  • Thalia Holloway as Second Buyer
  • Jeanine Johican as Church Friend
  • Ricky Roach as First Lover
  • Marie Sainvilvs as Saleslady
  • Chester Tankersley as Second Lover
  • Kathleen Turner as Barbara's Voice
  • Keefe L. Turner as The Doll

Production

When Turner began working on Black Devil Doll From Hell, he initially intended the story to be one of several featured in the anthology film Tales from the QuadeaD Zone. The short was turned into a feature-length film after Turner noted that the script had grown too long to be part of an anthology.[3] Turner wrote the script over a period of three and a half days, however filming took place over several years on a budget of about $10,000.[3][4] Most of the film's budget went towards paying the cast and crew involved with the film, as Turner was unaware that it is accepted practice for some performers and crew to work for free when making an independent film.[5] During filming Turner began dating actress Shirley L. Jones, who would return for Turner's second film.[3]

The titular devil doll from the movie was modeled after the performer Rick James and Turner's young nephew portrayed the doll in walking scenes.[3][5] As Turner had no prior experience in filmmaking, he took a correspondence course to help him with the film.[5]

Release

The film was first released in 1984 through Hollywood Home Video, a working relationship that Turner has described as exploitative.[4] Copies of Black Devil Doll From Hell were circulated to various video rental stores, where they were rented "over and over and over".[3] Despite the film enjoying some popularity, Turner only received $6 for each VHS copy purchased and was not certain how many copies of the film were actually sold by the distributor.[3] Hollywood Home Video also made extensive edits to Turner's film, resulting in the removal of seventy minutes of footage and of Turner's original soundtrack.[1]

In 2013 Massacre Video released Black Devil Doll From Hell as part of a DVD box set along with Tales from the QuadeaD Zone. The set also featured commentary from Turner and Shirley L. Jones, a documentary on both films, and the original version of Black Devil Doll From Hell.[1] Both Black Devil Doll From Hell and Tales from the QuadeaD Zone received a screening in Austin, Texas that same year, as part of a film event hosted by the Austin Film Society and attended by both Turner and Jones.[6]

Reception

HorrorNews.net commented that the film was "hard to recommend" but contained a good ending and "some truly unbelievable lines of dialogue".[7] DVD Talk gave Black Devil Doll From Hell two stars, remarking that they preferred the edited cut over Turner's original version.[8] Shock Cinema Magazine reviewed the movie in 1991, writing that "It revels unashamedly in its own misogynistic mindset and utter incompetency, and I can't imagine an uglier, more unbelievably inept piece of rotgut. Difficult to endure, impossible to forget, and loads of fun to discuss afterward (sorta like bragging about battle wounds)."[9]

Graeme Clark from The Spinning Image panned the film, awarding it one out of ten stars, calling it "Absolutely dreadful by any estimate, but difficult to look away from (and listen to, thanks to the piercing and droning soundtrack)". In his review, Clark criticized the film's dialogue, sexual content as being "almost softcore pornographic", and called the title character "a low rent Chucky".[10] Reviewing the 2013 release of the film, Nathaniel Thompson from Mondo Digital offered similar criticism. In his review Thompson wrote, "Love it or hate it, there's no way you'll ever forget Black Devil Doll from Hell. The monotonous (and loud) Casio soundtrack, hallucinatory pacing, profane script, and amateur performances combine to create a Black Devil Doll from HellDIY video project so far removed from anything remotely resembling normality that most wondered how it ever escaped onto commercial VHS release at all."[11]

References
  1. Cooper, Patrick (2013-12-06). "[DVD Review] Massacre Video Resurrects the 'Films of Chester Novell Turner'". Bloody Disgusting!. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
  2. Campopiano, John (2016-04-11). "10 Favorite Horror VHS Acquisitions as Picked by Yale University Library". Dread Central. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
  3. "RETURNING TO THE QUADEAD ZONE: THE RESURRECTION OF CHESTER N. TURNER". Daily Grindhouse. October 11, 2013. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
  4. Piepenburg, Erik (2013-11-14). "Chester Novell Turner and 'Black Devil Doll' Are Back". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
  5. Borrelli, Christopher (January 21, 2014). "Horror director Chester Turner's career back from dead". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
  6. "Film: CHESTER TURNER OVERDRIVE: BLACK DEVIL DOLL FROM HELL and TALES FROM THE QUADEAD ZONE with Director Chester Turner Live!". Austin Film Society. Archived from the original on 2016-09-18. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
  7. Angel, Van Croft (2015-12-15). "Film Review: Black Devil Doll From Hell (1984)". Horrornews.ne. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
  8. Gibron, Bill (November 12, 2013). "Black Devil Doll From Hell / Tales From The Quadead Zone Boxset". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
  9. Puchalski, Steven (1991). "Black Devil Doll From Hell (review)". Shock Cinema Magazine. Retrieved 2016-08-16.
  10. Clark, Graeme. "Black Devil Doll from Hell Review (1984)". The Spinning Image.co.uk. Graeme Clark. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  11. Thompson, Nathaniel. "Black Devil Doll from Hell / Tales from the Quadead Zone". Mondo Digital.com. Nathaniel Thompson. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
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