When I was a child, I used to spend the summers at my Grandparents house. They had a pool, and HBO so it was a load of fun. This was back in the early 1980’s when HBO would run short films between feature films. At some point (and I don’t really remember when) I saw the horror short film The Dummy, directed by Louis La Volpe. The film was released in 1982, so if I saw it that year, I would have been 7 years old. This film terrified me.
The Dummy tells the tale of a woman who is getting ready for dinner with the inlaws. After a bit of initial exposition, the husband disappears from the film. (I guess he went down to the bar…)
While taking a shower (in a scene that uses many shots reminiscent of Psycho) , The husbands ventriloquist dummy (that he has had since he was 8) appears on the toilet seat… with it’s pants down. After a brief moment of terror, our lead assumes the dummy was placed there as a joke by her husband..
After more strange occurrences, and the realization that her husband is no where to be found, the Dummy makes his attack. (He is apparently upset that our lead threatened to throw him away.)
After retreating to the bedroom only to find there is no other way out, our hero checks under the door to see if the Dummy is still there only to see him looking under the door back at her. This scene haunted my nightmares for many of year.
Eventually, our hero faces off against the deranged evil Dummy in the kitchen with a bat. Finally defeating her foe, she can rest easy… or can she.
Do you remember this horror short film from back in the day? Is this your fist time seeing The Dummy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.