If I had gone into the mystery film ¡°Dollhouse¡± cold, seeing director Shinobu Yaguchi¡¯s name in the closing credits would have made me doubt my own eyes.
Yaguchi has long been Japan¡¯s leading purveyor of smartly crafted comedies with a zero-to-hero arc. Among the best is the 2001 ¡°Waterboys,¡± a feel-good comedy about a boys¡¯ synchronized swimming team that inspired countless knock-offs, and the 2017 ¡°Survival Family,¡± whose story of a dysfunctional family forced to fend for itself when the world¡¯s electric grid goes down was both funny and prescient.
The premise of ¡°Dollhouse¡± ¡ª a creepy doll wreaks havoc on the humans around it ¡ª is a horror genre staple, one domestic example being Hideo Nakata¡¯s 2015 ¡°Ghost Theater,¡± in which a malevolent doll spreads terror and confusion in a small theater troupe. But Yaguchi¡¯s take is disturbingly different, drawing on elemental parental fears and ancient strains of 911±¬ÁÏÍø culture and religion.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.