LIVING DOLLS (1980 horror short)

[@kpcsr415]

I remember seeing this once as a child. It’s one of those those shorts that lingers in memory due to its greatness. Without the fancy special effects of modern times, old productions such as Living Dolls scared viewers with great cinematography, storytelling, and musical scores.

[@stephanierodriq]

I remember this used to come on USA Network on Saturday nights between movies. I miss old school cable tv.

[@kellphil76]

Stephanie Rodriguez remember the other short film with the guy building the giant mousetrap? It was the guy who played the handyman in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

[@nightshadeii9248]

Hot Buttered Popcorn! I think I remember the fishing one!! Weren’t the fish tossing out apples with hooks in them?? 😂 Also remember a crazy scary one about a ventriloquist dummy trying to murder a chick.

[@mikeryan2070]

Me Too. I love Saterday Nightmares. As a kid.

[@mikeryan2070]

Remember The Playground?

[@mikeryan2070]

Remember The Playground

[@davehastings]

Why was television just better back then lol? You know what I love about this film? Well too many things really, but just take the theme song alone- what a beautiful, haunting score. It just makes you wrestle with the type of person Melvin is, to be infantilized and pushed around by older, matronly women, taking his secret rage out on plastic avatars, only for everything to come apart. It's like a dream and I love it.

[@SamuelBlack84]

The style of cinematography used back then helps to give it a strong sense of gritty realism. Plus, the dreamlike atmosphere really helps A lot of modern horror is too clean and perfect, with everything leaning more towards being stylish that it detracts from the whole ambience

[@SamuelBlack84]

I used to often watch this late at night by myself. The feeling of being all alone in the world with only the darkness for company and this ...changed something in me

[@SamuelBlack84]

​@@Toastandtea682The strong sensation of myself not being real was disturbing at the time

[@AngelOrtiz-jf4xq]

Used to watch these when I came home from school. The good old day's 😉

[@brianhagerty9524]

This was actually really creepy in its day. I never thought I’d see this one again. I was so young when I saw it & thought I may have dreamt it.

[@mjreikiriot3302]

Same!

[@davidsandholm6648]

@@mjreikiriot3302 Same!

[@ToddColemanMedia]

Thanks, Brian. Lately I've been working behind the scenes on NEFARIOUS, which opens this Friday April 14. It's really good -- check it out!

[@shottashabazz6721]

The USA network in the 80’s and 90’s is still unmatched until this day. They had horror full length or short indie films like this. Class Kung Fu Movies. Great Boxing matches. They had something for everybody. Pre social media era.

[@dbel1980]

Saturday nightmares showed this I think.

[@markhernandez6212]

The music alone is creepy lol

[@HOLYPARISHOFDOOM]

I remember this one ...it was probably on Night Flight back in the day if I had to guess. Makes me recall the opening scene with the mannequins in lo-fi horror Tourist Trap (1979) Thanks for making it available.

[@sonicguyver7445]

I remember seeing this in the early days of the Sci-Fi Channel. Not going to lie, I was pretty easily scared back then. Just those early moments with him wandering around the mannequins was scary to me. I remember this was on between two shows I was watching and I got a little freaked so I changed the channel to wait it out. Flipped back to see if it was over but came right in at 7:47 as those bloody eyes open and after that I pretty much shit out my own heart. But thanks to this I have finally faced my old fear and killed it.

[@tiarafriedman6]

Wow haven't seen this in years. Cheers to the old school movies of its time >_

[@martymarrero6751]

Thank you soo much! I've been looking for the film that for soo long! This film reminds me of that wonderful film, Tourist Trap starring Jocely nJones, Chuck Conners and the young and beautiful, Tanya Roberts. Also love the Mannequin episode on Fantasy Island with Bob Denver and the beautiful, Barbi Benton!

[@nightshadeii9248]

Saw this after an airing of Slugs on the USA channel when I was 10. Scared the shit outta me.

[@JW75383]

Yes!! Me too

[@zombiediarhea]

I was born in 1979. I watched this in 1988. It scared the crap out of me then and still scares the crap out of me in 2024.

[@nostalgicmalcontent]

Gave me chills actually, lol.

[@jayhi5479]

Reminds me of the last scene in Maniac.

[@SamuelBlack84]

"Like this?"

[@peacefuljeffrey]

OK, so, um, the mannequin took his real eyes and stuck him with fake eyes? So he’s blind now, and the mannequin can see! And is the mannequin now animated and full-on alive? Or is she still just a statue? And what happens when those women discover that a mannequin somehow has real eyes?

[@seangranger623]

This should be a full length horror 🎥 remake

[@cementshoes1425]

Melvin is an original retro Incel 😂

[@kellyanneforster2074]

I just asked google twice, what an incel is... thanks for that insight... “Be Healed, my broken heart”.... another interesting insight... thanks for that too, how ..... ✨BRILLIANT✨

[@John-iy5xt]

This was pretty cool, kinda creepy. Kind of reminded me of a shorter and not as good Tales from the Darkside episode.

[@darioargento21]

this has been on my mind since i was a kid. i thought i dreamed this.

[@AlanPostScript]

I seem to recall this as an intermission piece HBO used, but it's been a LONG time.

[@dbel1980]

Yes. Trying to accurately remember these shorts from so long ago is difficult. Finding them even more so. This one, a haunted hotel room with a bleeding sink, and a monster that came out of the ground and used a phone book as a menu always stuck in my head. Can't find the other two yet unfortunately

[@davidkohler6827]

Is this basically a very shortened down version of Tourist Trap?

[@jason3709]

Looks like tourist traps inspiration

[@bingobunny7862]

Man, what did Melvin do :(. Bro was having a bad day fr

[@jeprice08]

7:05 - 7:07 Not a bad looker, is she? Wowee!

[@OikPoinFive]

Owie !

[@dbel1980]

Super late but this might be the only place to ask. Ive been looking for a horror short from around this period. Possibly from USA channel. ...... Its about a creature that comes out of the ground and hunts a man through his house... It ends with him running out a car and the monster is in their with a child and gets him. Then the monster says the phonebook is its menu

[@maljardin4251]

Sounds creepy. Afraid I don't know it, but hopefully someone else here does.

[@dbel1980]

@@maljardin4251 thank you. It was creepy. There's a certain something about the shorts made during this period that is inherently creepier than today.

[@guppy1972]

Someone else asked this same thing on another video and it was answered but I can’t for the life of me remember what it was called now. It’s definitely uploaded somewhere on here though because I watched it after it was linked in that thread.

[@dbel1980]

@@guppy1972 I'll keep trying then. At least I know the answer is out there somewhere. I've waited over 30 years. I got patience

[@dbel1980]

​@@guppy1972 if you remember the video the answer was attached too that could help too

[@chrisfilip3427]

Anyone know what all the horror shorts from Saturday Nightmares were? I have found The Dummy and The Contraption, but I'm sure there are more.

[@johnvincente1]

The Dummy, The Contraption, Living Dolls, The Hitchhiker, Gone Fishing, something with a florist, that's all I remember.

[@robynheavner4689]

I remember this one, still creepy!

[@rigomortisfxstudios]

nope it aired in the 1980s not even in 1992

[@OikPoinFive]

Grrrr! Girrr

[@Cheirosa81]

Is he a schizoid?

[@DanielS2001]

I remember when the Sci-Fi Channel used to show this.

[@jamesmcclelland1414]

From when, Daniel S.?

[@jeprice08]

7:51 - 8:04 Is what I remember the most!

[@krystalharwood6359]

7:06 Jackie Oh!

[@DSkehan2004]

I saw this on syfy channel a long time ago.

[@Oddyellano]

Not bad. Good filming and suspense, but, as far as story goes, just a little too much like that Twilight Zone episode with the talking mannequins.

[@kristinapickard2363]

its not scary