Ultimately I am a big fan of the revenge picture, but “The Twisted Doll” is the victim of too much story and not enough run time. “The Twisted Doll” by director Andrew de Burgh feels like he had an initially larger scope story in hand and kind of reduced it for a nine minute movie. I wouldn’t say “The Twisted Doll” is a bad movie, as it’s a solidly written picture with some good performances, I just wished I knew more about the characters to understand their motivations.
For a movie about revenge, we have to understand or at least gain some kind of comprehension toward the motivation for vengeance. But “The Twisted Doll” works at a nine minute run time with a premise that could very well be stretched in to an eighty minute movie. Not to mention a damn sharp one with a sick finale. That said director de Burgh makes due with what he has, creating a stark revenge thriller around a beautiful young girl played by Elisha Kriis befriends a young man and engages in a relationship with him.
She’s secretly planning his undoing though thanks to a doll she’s acquired by a spiritual woman. “The Twisted Doll” is a decent effort that results in just an okay movie. Elisha Kriis has presence and could make a wonderful seductress/heroine given enough meaty material to work with, but sadly the movie is over before we get a chance to know her well. Director de Burgh is a talented director but I’d love to see “The Twisted Doll” re-imagined in to a feature length thriller somewhere down the line with Ms. Kriis returning, and so much more narrative injected.