[Dorothy Mills]
Plot:Jane Morton, a psychiatrist in mourning after the accidental death of her son, is assigned the case of Dorothy Mills, a 15-year-old girl from a small Irish island, accused of attempting to murder a baby in her charge.

Arriving at the village, Jane discovers a small, frightened community, troubled by mysterious events and haunted by a terrible shared secret and hostile to outsiders. Deeply religious, and believed by the villagers to possess supernatural powers, the terrified Dorothy swears she never touched the child.

Moved by the girl's fragile, vulnerable state, Jane makes a diagnosis of multiple personality disorder, until the day that Dorothy speaks to her with the voice of her dead son. Jane is forced to admit that the girl indeed possesses powers that exist beyond the realm of psychiatry - dangerous powers that will plunge the village community into a violent collective psychosis.

Cast:Carice van Houten, Gary Lewis, Eamonn Owens, Charlene McKenna, Niamh Shaw, Glenn Gannon.

My Thoughts:Not bad.

Review:"Dorothy Mills" is another supernatural horror film where a doctor from the city shows up in rural territory to solve the problem of the "locals" who are too twisted, shady, or unintelligent to solve their own issues. In this movies case, the "rural" place is a small Irish island, away from the mainland. A psychiatrist named Jane Morton, who's coping with the death of her own child...comes to the island to try and solve the mystery behind an albino-haired girl named Dorothy Mills.

Seems Dorothy is accused of trying to kill a baby who was left in her care. And now Dr. Morton is out to clear Dorothy's name, all the while trying to figure out what's plaguing Dorothy and what would lead her to try and kill a child. There's just one problem though. Dorothy claims she didn't try to kill the baby. Despite being the only one in the room with the child. So if it wasn't Dorothy...then who was it? A ghost? Or is Dorothy just very good at hiding a malevolent nature?

"Dorothy Mills" manages to avoid being another bore-you-to-tears supernatural horror film by answering the very question it presents to the viewer. Which is what exactly is wrong with Dorothy Mills? The movie at first explains Dorothy's "issues" as a total cliche, but quickly twists that around by adding an interesting twist to the character, and her troubles. Which turns and pushes the movie in a whole new direction.

The film is smartly written at times, and Jenn Murray, the young Irish actress who plays Dorothy Mills...gives a wonderful and very diverse performance as the title character. Her range as an actress also shows in many scenes, her performance range and emotional range. The character goes through a whole set of emotions in the movie, ranging from anger to sadness, to a mix of both sometimes. She carries this movie for the most part, with the supporting cast being backed and held up nicely by Carice van Houten as the doctor who tries to help her.

I can't give away too much info regarding the root of Dorothy's problems, because divulging such information would ruin the end result and overall big reveal of the movie. But I will say that the first suspicion the viewer will have about Dorothy's condition should be taken with a grain of salt. Because writers Agnes Merlet and Juliette Sales script is alot smarter than that, and alot more complete from a story point of view.

The film adds in alot of subplots relating to the events at hand as well, including the hyper-religious attitudes of the towns people, some strange teenagers who seem to come and go, and a secret which the towns menfolk seem to be hiding. All of this is nicely tied into the storyline of Dorothy Mills and the ever-growing series of terrifying events surrounding her. All of this set to the foggy, and pretty depressing backdrop of the small Irish Island community. Which is one of the films few weak spots. It's setting is very depressing, and can sometimes distract from the film.

Not much, but some. The movies ending is very well done but on some level considering the fate of one of the movies main characters, is also very unfair as well. With that being said...the ending works as a downer, and yet at the same time an upper as the final scene reveals a bright, new beginning for another one of the films main characters. "Dorothy Mills" is more than just the average supernatural horror pic which comes to DVD twice every 5 months. It's a smartly written script which proves exciting new things do indeed come along every now and then in this particular sub-genre.

Positives:Good performances by Murray and Van Houten. A good story with interesting twists, more depth than usual, and flashes of cleverness.

Negatives:The setting is a tad bit too depressing.

Overall:Three out of four stars.





( Talk about it in the Forums!)



( Back to the main page)