Black Devil Doll

So what’s better than a modern-day blaxploitation parody horror movie featuring an evil Negro devil doll that goes around raping and killing white women? Well, quite a few things, honestly, but none that can allow me to use both an “evil puppet” tag and a “porn” tag. I think this film has indeed cornered the market on this connection.

The film follows Heather (Heather Murphy, who presumably got to use her real first name because it took her too long to react when they tried calling her by anything different), who decides to play around with a Ouija board at the same time convincted rapist-murder Mubia Abu-Jamal is being executed, and winds up transporting his soul into one of her dolls (which promptly turns black and sports a ‘fro). They immediately develop an intense sexual relationship, but it all turns to tragedy when she invites all of her female friends over and he falls back into old habits.

There’s two main things this film has going for it: there’s the constant, unceasing nudity, and there’s the 72 minute running time, allowing it to get in and out (much like the titular puppet) before it starts to get boring. Most of the female actresses don’t seem to have acted in anything besides this film, at least according to IMDB, but since two of them are named Natasha Talonz and Precious Cox, I have to assume that they all act like they’re porn stars because that’s exactly what they are (or at least what they’re hoping to become). Regardless, they’re all about as attractive as your average porn star as well, so take that however you will.

The humor is fairly hit or miss in the film. The doll himself gets off some nice lines, and just the concept of a puppet getting so excited over seeing a bunch of naked women around that he starts masturbating (complete with him finishing and a surprising amount of white cream shooting onto the window) is pretty damn clever (Also, the tagline -- “Rated X by an all-white jury!” -- is quality). Unfortunately, it also devolves into Kevin Smith Lite mode at times, with far too many poop and fart jokes for such a short film. The violence is also pretty basic, with usually just fake blood splattering everywhere (the main exception being when a girl has her throat cut and we get a lingering shot of the wound spurting blood), so those who would want to get this specifically for its violence will be disappointed. Also, what’s the deal with that damn red filter they keep putting over everything? Stop that already!

This movie obviously should not be watched by most of the people reading this blog. It’s visibly cheap (though not quite as cheap as the blaxploitation film it took its name from, Black Devil Doll From Hell), really juvenile, and basically functions as a cheap excuse to watch a bunch of would-be porn stars stripping naked, playing with each other’s boobs, and then being killed. If that’s not your thing, then don’t watch it and start whining because I gave it three stars and you just looked at that and Netflixed the movie without reading the review. I have limited sympathy.

Rating: ***