The Tale of the Dollmaker Recap & Review - The Midnight Society
Vložit
- čas přidán 26. 08. 2024
- On this episode of The Midnight Society, I look back at season 3, episode 5 of "Are You Afraid of the Dark?": The Tale of the Dollmaker. Betty Ann Tells a tale about a girl whose best friend goes missing and it turns out a dollhouse might be the cause of the disappearance.
Website: www.jackofallne...
Twitter: @jackofallnerds
Facebook: / jackofallnerds
Support the show on Patreon: / jackofallnerds
#midnightsociety #areyouafraidofthedark #snick
My dumb theory, since there was the only one missing person in recent memory, it had been a while since the dollhouse transformed anyone. I say, the house gets its power from sucking the life out of people. Since it has almost finished Susan's transformation, it was more powerful than when Susan entered, so it was able to start turning Melissa more quickly.
This episode actually scared me as a kid. Especially when she goes to leave and the door isn't there, but the longer she stays the less likely she is to make it out alive. It triggered my little child anxiety.
I don't think that's a dumb theory at all. In fact, I love it for this story. I only wish the writers had come up with something similar to include in the episode itself.
Great review! This has always been an interesting episode.
Thank you!
I think the title implies that the actual dollhouse itself is the "doll maker" and not an actual person. Yeah, I didn't find this episode scary either, although strangely I have fond memories of the "jelly barrier" that the girls jump into out the window. Reminds me of the black pool Mario jumps into in Mario 64.
With all this mentioned of bingo I can't help but think of that Leon Kennedy line "where's everyone going, bingo?"
This reminds me of that Pokemon episode where they turned into dolls.
I would totally go through those clothes! This was my second favorite episode! I do wish we spent more time in the Dollhouse.
Ughhhh I can watch every episode from every season EXCEPT this one. I want to watch this full episode.
During the last rewatch of this episode (some time ago), I was suspicious of the aunt.
What if the aunt was a secret witch who created the dollhouse, gifted it to Susan and cast a spell to trap Susan? Nothing was explained about why the dollhouse was created or there in Susan’s attic.
The aunt would have been there at the neighbours house at least several times (especially when her niece was there) so she knew the layout.
Motive? Maybe the aunt was lonely and jealous of her niece always going over there when she visited. Her husband seemed to be a handyman who always did things around the house or was out and about.
But then the aunt realised she did the wrong thing and felt so guilty. I think she knew the niece was trapped in the house when she came over and wandered the attic when the niece was trapped. But the aunt did not know how to get them out so she thought her niece was gone as well.
Something about the aunt seemed off to me.
Just something to ponder.
I love this take on it!
I agree with everything you said about this episode and I like your idea of having it being told from Susan's POV. That definitely would have come off as way creepier.
I totally forgot about this show! I am not sure where it was showed back home in England I think BBC? Anyway I remember this episode creeping me out!
10:45 lmao 🤣 😂 I legit almost spit out my drink
I actually like the idea of the house itself being the Dollmaker. It gives it a sense of sentience and increasing the creep factor in my eyes. I like that better than some big bad, mua-ha-haing somewhere.
This is my top favorite episode. The one about the Angel Rock is #2.
I love your hilarious review vid! This is an interesting twist, on the creepy doll trope, though not the scariest episode. As an adult, I too noticed a lot of plot holes and story gaps, though the acting and props were A+, in my opinion. Thanks for the shout out, at the end, as well. #90sfan
Ah, sorry! I missed your video on this one. I liked The Tale of the Dollmaker, I just felt like it takes too long to get to the point.
Yeah, we definitely should've spent more time in the dollhouse.
I personally was engaged in the story because I was a die-hard doll collector as a girl (okay and still a little as an adult) - though I agree - its not that scary at all. The idea is unsettling, though. BTW, when you mentioned her moving the cabinet with great strength out of nowhere, that would have been the perfect opportunity to insert the joke "At least Melissa has learned the wisdom of Fred Randall" and then insert a scene from "Rocketman" where he has to lift the fallen space vehicle off of another astronaut where he yells out "Hurry up, Commander - call me Mommy!... Mommy's coming little Billy!" ROFL Good review, if a bit shorter than last time. Will stay tuned for the next episode of "The Bookish Babysitter". :)
I agree that the idea is completely unsettling. In fact, I find porcelain dolls to be creepy AF! I just don't think there was enough time in the episode to really flesh the concept out which is why it falls flat for me. I legitimately think there is a good, thrilling story in there somewhere, which is why I was on the fence about it.
this is certainly a creepy episode, the make up applied to Susan to make her look like a doll was great, wish they'd explained how the dollhouse worked, guessing that when Susan got herself stuck in there, she wasn't able to figure out how to escape until her hands (which based on what happened to Melissa were the first to be affected) made her unable to move it
Yeah, Susan must have figured out about the secret stairs too late to be able to move it. But even if she had gotten up there, there was the illusion on the door to scare you into not jumping. That house really didn't want people escaping.
i dread to imagine what would have happened if they didn't escape, Melissa would have seen Susan's transformation finish and suffered months suffering the same fate
@@joecrammond6221 yeah. It does make me wonder what happens once you fully transform. Because while we see a door close in the dollhouse earlier, we never see Susan in it. Likewise, when Melissa tries to call out to her aunt, she doesn't see her. So once you fully turn into a doll, do you appear in the dollhouse as a doll. Can you still be freed if you fully transform? Lot's of interesting questions from the concept of this episode.
I saw that Twilight Zone episode its very sad.
Have the members of the Midnight Society ever voted that a story doesn’t meet the approval? They seem more forgiving.
I’d be interested in the politics of how far they were allowed to push some of these episodes. I could see a scenario where the writers had some scarier stories but were told to dial it back. Maybe the titular dollmaker was a scrapped idea but they decided to keep the title. Not at all convinced that was actually what happened but with a title like that the story does seem to be lacking.
No, they have never voted a story down. I think the closest we came was around 20% against. I post the polls here and in a couple of AYAOTD Facebook groups and I think the people in the groups tend to be more favorable on all episodes.
What I thought upon reading the title:
"Geppetto finally snap? Kill some kids?" :P
Oh man! What a great twist on the classic tale that would be. I'm picturing an old man so twisted by not having a child of his own that he kidnaps kids and turns them into his puppets. So dark!
@@JackOfAllNerdsShow Yeah, and the Blue Fairy? An idealized hallucination of his dead wife, urging him to stop, thus clearly representing Geppetto's conscience.
@@alexlemonds2838 Haha! So...when are we writing this script?
@@JackOfAllNerdsShow Lol. I'll pencil you between now & whenever I cease meandering about in my searches for BTAS storyboards. ;)
I never knew what or who was the "Dollmaker" when I was a kid. I think it was the house itself.
does anyone know where are these house located?
Definitely has a Twilight Zone feel I like it but not in my Top 10
Yeah, it is definitely not the worst episode I've ever seen. It would probably fall somewhere in the middle for me.
Great review 👌 Agreed this was more in line with Twilight Zone. It lacked a real antagonist like the better AYAOTD episodes. You could count the doll house as one, but like you mentioned it wasn’t featured nearly enough.
Yeah, if they would've cut the part where the uncle stops her from going into the door the first time, we could've had more time in the dollhouse, which I think would've improved the episode.
I enjoy the twilight zone ones, this episode just had some problems. The one big one is, explaining the rules of the magic window.
@@DrVVVinK Agreed. This episode needed twice the runtime.
This episode stuck with me ss a kid. My grandma has dolls and some of them are quite creepy to me after the story ended with the safe return of Susan i always wondered where the door in the attic went to after Uncle Pete burned the dollhouse. Did the door still go into the dollhouse even though it was burned into flames or did it go elsewhere? I dont hink anyone knew i felt like this episode deserved a second episode I felt like there was plot holes missing. Like why was the dollhouse like Susan's actual house? Where did they get the dollhouse? Who made it? I felt like those pieces were missing from the story
I agree. This should've been a two-parter to get more of those questions answered.
@@JackOfAllNerdsShow I wondered why Aunt Sally didn't call out when Melissa called out if anyone was there before she went up to the attic. I feel like there was a little something off about Aunt Sally. Did Aunt Sally make the house as a housewarming present for the Henderson's? Aunt Sally looked like she was guilty about something. Where did the dollhouse come from? Who made it? Why was there a door in the attic leading outside to the adults but to the children inside the dollhouse? Did Aunt Sally and Uncle Pete call the Henderson's to let them know Susan returned safe and sound? He had to have cause he needed there permission to burn the dollhouse
While not a particularly great episode, it was always enjoyable, and would watch it whenever it was on rerun. But even more, little kid brain knew that the parents just wouldn't move if their kid went missing. Perhaps I was being a fan of Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack, or reading the Face on the Milk Carton, but I knew when a child went missing, the parents always stayed in the house. Also, the little I knew about financing was, most people can't afford two homes, if they aren't renting one, especially one that size.
As for the uncle, I always saw him as some professor.
Haha, yeah I didn't even think about the financial responsibilities of having two houses. It would be one thing if they were renting it out, but since they are not, that would be a huge financial burden. Maybe their new home is just a studio apartment. Or maybe the Hendersons came from old money. In any event, it would've suited the story better if they just abandoned the house because they thought it took Susan.
08:02 ahahahhahahahhaha cant stop laughing.
man talk about false advertisment, no doll maker?!?!?! BOO URNS!!!
Quicksilver was my favorite episode but it's not in ParamountPlus :( love these AYAOTD reviews!
Thank you!
If you have access to Vudu, you can buy the first 5 seasons of AYAOTD on there as a bundled set for pretty cheap ($10-20 US depending on if there is a sale). They list it as Volumes 1-10 (and the order they list them in is wacky AF). Then you can watch it whenever you want!
I'm looking forward to reviewing Quicksilver later this season.
@@JackOfAllNerdsShow I bought all the episodes from youtube play store.
This fails for me as it was the 4th worst episode (IMO) for this season, it was just lacking something. Which is funny cause Fear based horror (as this can be classified in) there are other great examples in the series but this one just fell flat
Yeah, and I get that in styling their show after the Twilight Zone, not everything needs to be scary, but I just didn't find the weirdness of it enough to offset the lack of scares.
I agree with everything you said about this episode and I like your idea of having it being told from Susan's POV. That definitely would have come off as way creepier.