A bizarro mix of cannibalised elements of every decade of the horror genre pre-1970 and a Scooby-Doo episode without either the talking Great Dane or Shaggy but instead a sex-obsessed Mystery Inc. crew, Miss Leslie’s Dolls is an intriguing oddity from the Grindhouse era. Unashamedly mashing up the old dark house horror, the psycho-thriller and the Gothic amongst many others, there’s not an original idea to be found. Despite this, it’s off-kilter and agreeable fun.
When their car runs out of gas in the middle of a vicious storm (rolling to a stop in a graveyard), a teacher and her three students take refuge in the only nearby building, the home of the titular recluse. Miss Leslie it turns out is some kind of kook, but it’s either bunk down for the night there or take their chances outside. Besides, there’s beds in the house and all four have various physical unions on their minds. For her part, Miss Leslie is concerned more with a spiritual transfer of sorts, and the nubile young women now in her home give her an opportunity she can’t pass up.
What follows takes elements from other, better films like Psycho, Universal horrors of the 1930s, and the Gothic drive of the 50s and 60s, and meanders along with a fairly languid pace until ramping up for a suitably bonkers conclusion. There’s no sense of urgency to proceedings, most of the small cast don’t exactly give their all, and you’re never really sure whether the air of weirdness that permeates the film is something that was done on purpose or just a by-product of don’t-know-better ineptitude. It has a serious Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood vibe. And yet, just like that film, it’s often hypnotically odd, so much so that regardless of whether it’s arguably good or bad, it is definitely interesting. It also has its biggest asset front and centre with Salvador Ugarte’s admirably committed performance as Miss Leslie.
Miss Leslie’s Dolls was considered a lost film for many years, when in actual fact it was more a case that it hadn’t been found, with a few prints still remaining. For this Network Blu-ray release the film has been cleaned up as much as possible from the prints available. It’s not the most dynamic of films in terms of visuals (apparently the director credited doesn’t even remember making it, and probably didn’t) but we do get for the most part a remarkably sharp and detailed picture. There’s a photo gallery but no other extras so it’s only the film you get here, but for fans of the somewhat outré horror thriller, it’s certainly worth your time.
MISS LESLIE’S DOLLS / DIRECTOR: JOSEPH G. PRIETO / SCREENPLAY: JOSEPH G. PRIETO, RALPH REMY JR / STARRING: SALVADOR UGARTE, TERRI JUSTON, MARCELLE BICHETTE / CERT: 12 / RELEASE DATE: 3RD SEPTEMBER 2018
