User reviews

It bothers me when movies are mis-marketed. I understand why they do it but it's misleading and annoying. Many movies that don't quite fit a genre are shoehorned into one.

As was the case with 'The Hole', 'Dorothy Mills' is more of a psychological thriller marketed as pure horror. The quote on the cover, "A contemporary take on the Exorcist", the tag line 'Evil chose her" and the typical horror imagery would have one renting this with hopes of hiding behind a cushion from a pea soup vomiting demon. Probably achieves more rentals/purchases but it also inevitably disappoints many, but not in my case.

In reality this is not really about 'evil'. It's a chilling and intriguing tale that deals with the multiple personalities of a girl called Dorothy Mills and/or the dead speaking through her. Set in Ireland, Dublin based psychiatrist Jane Van Dopp travels to a small island where the troubled girl lives. Whilst working on the case she begins to suspect the multiple personalities are more than just figments of Dorothy's imagination.

It's not entirely original but a very interesting plot regardless. The strongest aspect of the movie is Dorothy's various characters: the transformations being startling! Furthermore,Jenn Murray, the actress who plays them, is absolutely brilliant and it's difficult to believe this is her first role.

I feel this movie is deserving of some decent exposure; I'm just not sure misleading marketing is the right way to go about it.

Although writer/director Agnès Merlet resorted to too many clichés at times, Dorothy Mills does deserve credit for not taking the Hollywood road of botching the conclusion with special effects or nonsensical action scenes.

The movie has a solid pacing and takes the time to acclimate us with its characters. Unfortunately, most of them are terribly uninteresting and look like they were inspired by similar movies.

There are two glowing exceptions: psychiatrist Jane Van Dopp and our title character: the young and troubled Dorthy Mills. Dutch actress Carice Van Houten (The Black Book, Valkyrie) has a lot of presence on screen and manages to showcase all the emotions the doctor goes through, without overacting. The script still doesn't really do the actress justice but she does relatively well, despite not being completely at ease with English.

Without a doubt the most pleasant surprise of the whole movie will be the performance of newcomer Jenn Murray as Dorothy. Knowing that this movie was small budget and comparing her performance with the rest of the cast, one can only be amazed by her raw talent and presence. The role of Dorothy is incredibly challenging and it would have been easy for the movie to become unintentionally funny had the actress playing Dorothy been only average. But on the contrary, Jenn Murray elevates the movie by at least a point or two.

The story is slightly conventional. A nice twist at the end has a good effect to it but feels kind of forced. Some dramatic scenes barely work. More than anything else, the plot is almost ruined by not letting Dorothy be the sole vehicle of the strange happenings on the island.

But this is still a cool mystery movie with an awesome performance by Murray, whom I look forward to seeing in many more films.

DOROTHY MILLS has a wonderfully gloomy atmosphere of dread throughout its running time. This enhances the story, which centers around the relationship between the title character (Jenn Murray), and Dr. Jane Van Dopp (Carice van Houten), a psychiatrist who tries to help the girl.

At first, it appears that Dorothy is a troubled child suffering from purely psychological issues. However, as time goes on, Jane begins to realize that something else could be happening. Something supernatural that may reveal secrets that have been concealed by those around her.

Both Ms.' van Houten and Murray are absolutely convincing in their pivotal roles. As the truth is slowly revealed, we see the trauma that both have experienced bubbling to the surface.

This is a film that relies on great acting and dialogue, along with the aforementioned sense of darkness, rather than overt shocks. Due to this, it's a superior horror film for those who prefer creeping fear over jump scares...

An interesting film that explores the problems of small, closed communities - particularly those that rely heavily on religious leadership. The problematic nature of faith and ethics is a strong thread to the story, as the Church is unable or unwilling (through the role of the Parish priest) to support any sense of justice. The only message is: don't get caught and if you do cover it up as best you can...

The story line is fantastical but that is intended so shouldn't be seen as a weakness. What it does explore is the intuitive sense of rightness that young people can retain even in a community that is essentially rotten.

There are twists that are obvious but yet still manage to shock, especially the way in which key characters lose your sympathy as the plot unfolds.

I enjoyed the acting, and the actress who plays Dorothy manages to be both creepy and endearing. She reflects the brooding threat that the island conveys, in the scenery as well as through the behaviour of the population. You really empathise with the psychiatrist sent to assess Dorothy, at least I did. Her hesitancy to stay but desire to help is palpable.

I would recommend it if you liked Orphan or American Gothic...

A young girl Dorothy Mills was accused of trying to kill a baby that she was sitting for.Jane Morton is a psychiatrist who is sent to Dorothy's small Irish island.It is her job to try and understand what happened and to hopefully help Dorothy try and avoid a harsh punishment from the courts for what she had done.Is Dorothy suffering from multiple personality disorder or is she possessed by vengeful spirits?"Dorothy Mills" is highly derivative.It borrows several elements from Robin Hardy's "The Wicker Man" and Herk Harvey's "Carnival of Souls".I must admit that the titular performance of Jenn Murray is extremely believable,unfortunately the film drags quite a bit during its middle section.Still it's worth checking out if you are into subtle ghost stories.The photography of Irish cliffs is stunning too.6 out of 10.

It's been several months, maybe even a year, since I've sat down to enjoy one of my favorite hobbies - watching a Horror film. I believe Dorothy Mills is the first Horror I've ever watched coming from Ireland, and I must say - what a first experience! When it comes to such films, where one wouldn't find anything to concretely criticize,yet that do not have the bearings of a masterpiece, the feeling is set by the quality of the story and overall level of enjoyment, both of which are higher than average.

The acting is rather good, in all means professional, but nothing out of the ordinary. As always, young child actors and actresses impress me greatly, and young Jane Murray has definitely proved herself to be a prominent young actress with a great future ahead of her. Lead actress Carice van Houten has also been quite impressive as Dr. Jane van Dopp, but not as impressive as Murray.

Nothing much to say about the cinematography, and the soundtrack has been suitable and appropriate for the eerie mood of uncertainty, doubt and fear. The almost complete lack of jump-scares and cheap tricks is commendable! The alleged "twist", however, has been slightly anticlimactic after a very elaborate and thoroughly composed build up. The ending has also left some things to be desired, with certain little plot holes that might prove significant to the trained eye of the more experienced Horror viewer.

All in all, Dorothy Mills is a fine film, very nice Ghost Story- Mental Illnesses combination, with a compelling story and some relatable characters. Again, not a masterpiece, but an enjoyable Horror tale nonetheless. Definitely highly recommended to Horror fans looking to expand their CV, and also to everyday viewers looking for a nice light scare.

I watched this horror firm a few weeks ago, and i found it to be very good. it is about a woman called Jane Morton, who is a psychiatrist from Dublin. She has been assigned to work on the case of Dorothy Mills, a teenage girl from a small village who has tried to strangle a baby. When Jane arrives in the village she finds it to be a very strange place. she finally meets a very nervous girl called Dorothy, who swears to the psychiatrist that she never touched the baby. After carrying out tests on Dorothy, Jane diagnosis that she has multiple personality disorder he manages to impersonate three peoples voices, she also finds out that the locals are religious believers and she believes that something dark lives in the island 7/10

There are two reasons to rent this DVD: Carice van Houten who is becoming one of the finest actresses on the screen today and the scenery of Ireland. Otherwise this tedious and silly 'thriller' is a tired unimaginative rehash of all of the previous movies about multiple personality disorders such as The Three Faces of Eve, Sybil, etc that are so superior to this story written by Juliette Sales and writer/director Agnès Merlet.

Apparently hoping to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, director Merlet places her story on an Island off Ireland populated with a sick group of folks who protect the strange secrets of the title character Dorothy Mills (Jenn Murray). Needing to explore her own demons, a Dublin psychiatrist Dr Jane Van Dopp (van Houten) gains the assignment to explore the strange case of Mills and her history. In a series of flashbacks and inane reenactments of incidents, the truths behind the island's strange inhabitants, Dorothy Mills, and Dr Jane Van Doop come forward. The ending has a twist but not one that justifies the dull story that requires a large amount of patience on the part of the viewer. Pass on this one. Grady Harp

Sorry to disagree with some remarks of this movie being slow(?). I liked the pace of it and it gave you time to really understand the different characters and their secrets and lies. it added much needed depth to the story, something that is lacking in many Hollywood films.

I found that the film was always interesting, mysterious and in some scenes quite chilling. It is, by far one of the most refreshing films of the year. The acting was superb.

Another criticism that I found was uncalled for was the nit picking about the Dutch actress Carise's accent. Did you not notice her character's surname it's actually Dutch (Doh!)she is meant to have lived in Ireland for a while and therefore picked up the Irish accent I live in Glasgow,Scotland and in my city there are hundreds that have come to work in here from various cities of Europe and other parts of the world and there is one I know who is a German psychiatrist who has picked up a slight accent from staying here for a few years.

If you want to nit pick what about big Terminator Arnie's accent - it never changed in all his movies, how do you explain a German accented robot from the future?... Given that Carise's first language is Dutch I really admired that she managed to get the accent at all.

'Dorothy' is a worthy movie, with well paced action and a thought proving story. Set on a remote Island, off of Ireland, it certainly captures the imagination and it does have some surprising twists and turns. It's both well acted and cleverly shot. To delve too far into the plot will give too much away but if you are not expecting a blood and thunder horror, you will be pleasantly rewarded by this spiritual, slow burner.

This is a great example of a movie with a strong idea that's poorly executed. What could have been an alternate take on themes comparable to "The Sixth Sense" the storyline instead tumbles into a hollow drama poorly disguised as a Psychological horror. On the plus side Jenn Murray as the disturbed "Dorothy" and Carice Van Houten as her Psychiatrist "Jane" play out their roles to near perfection. I'm from Ireland and I've been looking forward to this film for almost a year now but for me what let it down the most are its gaping plot holes. The most obvious one of these is the fact that the Islanders live in fear of Dorothy and at times she is seen as a freak. So why would you ask this troubled teen to Baby-sit your child knowing what she is capable of. This plot point is what takes Jane to the Island to begin with to investigate a report of child abuse and it's as if the writers failed to notice this weak link in the story. Another gripe of mine is how Ireland is portrayed. There are no Islands around the coast of Ireland where the locals dress like they are stuck in the 1940's or act like characters from "The Wicker Man". I found this to be thoroughly distracting and it certainly brought forth more than a few giggles from the audience I watched it with. It would have been creepier if the Islanders were played straight and saw nothing wrong with exploiting Dorothy for her strange "talent" and were willing to KILL anyone who tried to take her away from them. This would've put Jane in jeopardy and as a result created tension and suspense both of which it is totally lacking in. This is a movie that's more akin to "Agnes of God" than "The Exorcist" as it's been touted. If you enjoyed "Agnes of God" you will probably like this.

I thought my friends and I would take a risk in the selection for our little scary movie night. Our choice turned out to be quite the risk.

On the cover, it says, "A contemporary 'Exorcist'". This would attract most horror-movie lovers... Dorothy Mills did not even come close.

The beginning was interesting and creepy. The rest of the beginning was a loosely threaded, tangled, jumble of half-stories. Half-stories, because they could have been sagas. They were all condensed into less than two hours.

The acting was fine, the little girl, even though her storyline is obscured. The main actress was fine as well...but the focus seemed to be on her, once again diminishing any sense of terror.

At the end, the story does make sense...but remember, there was an entire hour and a half of confusion before.

I give the movie credit for having me sit through the entire disappointment (even with snickering and negative remarks).

Just when you think you know what this movie is about it surprises you. It's a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Great script, spot on direction. Wonderful acting by all. Carice van Houten plays it just perfectly as the doctor. Jenn Murray, is simply brilliant with a performance which must be seen.

It's hard to tell you what the story really is about without giving it away, but need to say it's a wonderful journey. From the setting on Hope this little film gets the distribution it deserves. It's just wonderful and I strongly recommend this movie.

Hope it gets some distribution in the US, as I think there is an audience for it. Nice to see what can be made for under a million dollars, a good script and a talented director.

If you look at the cover you see the only reason to watch this movie. The actress who plays Dorothy is excellent. You would never guess that this is her debut. Carice van Houten was OK but I did expect much more from her. (One thing bothered me throughout the movie. Carice is Dutch and when she speaks Dutch you hear her accent. In the whole movie there is not one remark explaining why she has this accent. If the makers wanted to pull off in letting us believe that she is Irish than they failed. Maybe I am nitpicking but once you will hear her speak you will understand my point.) The premise that we are presented with is full of potential and could have really made this movie interesting. Sadly the makers have chosen for the easy way out. And their way has to be accepted. Since they made sure there is no other way to interpret it. The problem with the solution they chose for the movie is that they make you realize that this movie could have been much shorter and by that I mean much shorter (with a total runtime of 20 minutes). From the first big event happening to Jane(Carice) you can predict what is going on. Only the ending is somewhat surprising but almost has no impact since by then you will be bored to death. The ideas about possession or multiple personality disorder themselves were fitting to the story only somehow they never seem to match together. Another big complaint is the fact that there is not much happening in the movie. The events surrounding Dorothy are not impressive and only make sense because of the brilliant Jenn Murray. Is this movie not worth watching then? Well,the mystery itself and the acting (from Murray in particular)is pretty strong. Only the pay off is less satisfying. Suitable for a rainy Sunday.

Overall not a terrible film, but not worthy of the high ratings some gave it. Carice van Houten acting was horrid to say the least and why did they cast her in the role with that Dutch accent is beyond me, the actress that acted Dorothy's role was way better. I gave the story a 6 but the overall score was dragged down by the flat as a Dutch pancake acting performance from Carice van Houten, and that's coming from me that was born in Holland.

5 out of 10

I'm astounded that this 'movie' is available for purchase on DVD and marketed as being like the Exorcist

Huh? The Exorcist did not look like a cheap student movie, it had exotic locations, amazing score and sound, fine acting etc etc. Dorothy does not, it is low budget 100%

Low budget is fine, great even. If it's countered with creativity then amazing things are still possible - just look at some of Jon Carpenters early movies, or Tarkovsky who made artistically acclaimed films shot in a field. It looks like the outdoor scenes in Dorothy, those that are real, are shot in a beautiful part of Ireland possibly, but the location is sadly underused. Why not use it? Why not use real locations? A real house?

Instead we get lots of studio shots with lighting that is absolutely dire throughout - badly placed, shaky. Wow. Most of the sets are cheap and ugly, the costumes are crap, the acting is sub-par across the board save for the psychologist who tries hard but looks like she know's she made a mistake getting involved in this. Maybe it's why she's chain smoking cigarettes? The scenes in the car look so bad they would've been better off making them look intentionally so. Even better go out in a real car and shoot from a different angle?

At any moment I expected an Anglia commercial break to come on because this is television production values, and not modern ones either. Dorothy is in the league of an 80's episode of Doctor Who or Rentaghost at best, only without the charm, and actually it looks like a student short film stretched out to one hour and a half

Let's not bother mentioning the music and sound because even if these were the best on earth they still could not have saved this. Actually lets mention the sound because I simply can't let that pass - hollow footsteps and dialogue/adr, the complete absence of exterior ambiance most of the time even when the entire cast is next to a river!! Totally inconsistent and patchy 'dark' ambiance elsewhere. Come on, that's inexcusable outside of a student production

A complete absence of movie scale design. Just avoid this at all costs please

Jenn Murray - what a find!! I hope that we see more of her, because her acting in the role of Dorothy Mills (and the other "personalities" inside of her) is amazing. The packaging and description on the DVD is deceiving and stupid. This was nothing like The Exorcist. It was a gimmick to sell it to American audiences. I've found so many excellent British movies hiding behind horrible cover art, and it's frustrating. All ofthe actors are excellent in their roles. There were moments in the film that had a "Wicker Man" feel to it; remote island, eccentric and secretive townspeople. This is high quality film making. The director also did "Artemesia", another fine movie.

Absolute rubbish i mean really seriously an island that the 21st century forgot people were clearly living in the past no one had a mobile phone no one had a modern tv the story was dull and the car chase scene with a vw golf and a ford escort. A ford escort wouldn't have kept up with a golf vw engines have better engines more efficient than fords. Not a good film to watch.

I tried watching this with an open mind and really wanted to like it. Usually I enjoy complicated plots if they are well-done. This movie made very little sense. It's worse than Watchmen and that says a lot. If you watch this movie, don't take your eyes from the screen for a moment, keep a score sheet (like in baseball) to keep up with the characters and what they're doing, their relationships to each other, and the relevance of their individual plot threads. Maybe you'll enjoy it more than I did. My husband and I kept asking, "Who is that and why are they suddenly here?" The ending made a little bit more sense than the rest of the movie, but, as I said, you have to pay attention like you're studying for the SATs in order to keep up with this drek.