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Directed by Agnès Merlet. Starring Carice van Houten, Jenn Murray, Gary Lewis. Horror, English language, 97 min.

DVD release date 10th May 2010 RRP £15.99 Blu-Ray RRP £19.99. Buy Now.

If you’re going to tell the story of a disturbed youngster, with the likelihood of a spiritual procession, there is only one way to open such a film. Let’s shoot it from the inside of Catholic Church, starting with a close up on a Priest holding Mass. Move across the congregation (to make it clear to the audience this is a deeply religious group of people) then quickly move to another scene – that of a Psychiatric ward. To finish the scene add one psychiatric nurse investigating a ‘very special case’. And for good measure, stage the film in the unofficial catholic capital of the world.... Ireland. Here we have the setting for the eagerly awaited DVD offering of ‘Dorothy.

Originally titled ‘Dorothy Mills’ the film was screened at FrightFest Glasgow in 2009 to rave reviews. This is the fifth offering from the French Writer/Director Agnès Merlet (Artemisia). Bloggers have followed this film for some time so it’s great to finally see it arrive in the stores.

Set on a remote Irish island - reports of a teenager’s hideous attack on a young baby are fed back to a Psychiatric hospital in Dublin. Psychiatrist Jane Morton played by Carice van Houten (Valkyrie, Black Death) is assigned to the case and heads out to uncover the facts behind the attack and diagnose the teenager.

While driving through the country lanes in Ireland, Jane is forced to swerve two cars racing across the country terrain causing her to crash the vehicle. Dealing with her own demons and overwhelmed with grief from the recent deaths of her husband and 5 year old son in a road accident, Jane is guided shell-shocked by the locals to the B & B arranged for her stay.

In classic horror style ala An American Werewolf in London, the door to the Public house swings open, all is quiet and the obvious stranger to the area is intensely stared at by the punters. Jane’s presence is clearly not welcomed by the locals. We don’t like your kind ‘round ‘ere – well that doesn’t actually happen – but you can see where I’m going with this.

When our unwelcome nurse meets Dorothy the next morning Dorothy claims that she didn’t hurt the child, someone else did it with the use of her body. As time passes Dorothy appears to Jane as many different characters, all suffering with anguish and anger for an undisclosed reason. Throughout the film there is the underlying hint of a deep dark secret held by the locals.

Convinced that this is a case of multiple personality disorder, Jane prepares to wrap up her diagnosis and return to Dublin. When Dorothy appears to Jane as her dead son, with details of the road accident only known to Jane she realises there is more to the strange tortured characters played by the teenage Dorothy and spends time investigating the locals.

This is a wonderfully eerie psychological Drama/Horror with some incredibly dramatic and uncomfortable moments, remnant of such classics as the Exorcist and Omen trilogy. The character of Dorothy played by Jenn Murray is particularly strange and well acted. The many faces of Dorothy can be uncomfortable viewing at times accomplished by strong performance from Murray and a brilliant make up team. Echoes of Straw Dogs and Exorcist are rampant throughout the film and the twist to the story is well delivered in the finale.

Dorothy is a very a well delivered story with some brilliant performances by the cast. Although there’s nothing particularly new in the story telling it works well as a horror piece and is worthy viewing for any fan of this genre.

Extras Include – making of featurette and trailer.

Nick Gibbs-McNeil.

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