Robert (film)

Last updated
Robert
Robert (2015).jpeg
DVD cover
Directed by Andrew Jones
Written byAndrew Jones
Produced by
  • Emily Coupland
  • Rebecca Graham
  • Robert Graham
  • Andrew Jones
Starring
  • Suzie Frances Garton
  • Lee Bane
  • Flynn Allen
  • Judith Haley
  • Megan Lockhurst
CinematographyJonathan McLaughlin
Edited byMorgan Conlon
Music byBobby Cole
Production
company
North Bank Entertainment
Distributed by4Digital Media
Release date
  • 24 August 2015 (2015-08-24)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish


Robert (also known as Robert the Doll) is a 2015 British horror film written and directed by Andrew Jones. The first instalment to the Robert the Doll fim series. It stars Suzie Frances Garton, Lee Bane, Flynn Allen, Judith Haley and Megan Lockhurst. The film was inspired by a haunted doll named Robert. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Plot

Lawyer Paul Otto and his wife Jenny, an artist, decide that Agatha, the nanny to their son Gene, is getting past it and make the decision to dismiss her. Agatha takes the decision badly and the resentful former nanny promises this will not be the end of it. She departs, leaving Gene with a hideous doll called Robert. Shortly after Agatha's dismissal strange events start to occur in the house. Objects are thrown around, furniture is wrecked and ominous giggles are heard in the dead of night. Jenny soon becomes concerned about the relationship between Gene and Robert. Gene insists that Robert is alive and that it destroyed one of Jenny’s paintings and wrote ‘die’ on her bathroom mirror. Jenny soon comes to believe that Robert is alive and was responsible for pushing the cleaner Martha down the stairs and killing the babysitter Marcie. However, with no proof of this, Paul thinks Jenny’s mental health is playing up again…

Cast

Release

4Digital Media acquired the distribution of the film in UK and US and was released on 24 August 2015. [4]

Reception

On Culture Crypt, the film has a review score of 25 out of 100, indicating "unfavorable reviews". [5]

Corey Danna of Horrornews.net wrote:

Andrew Jones is slowly growing into an interesting filmmaker and he really seems to have a passion for the subject matter. So much passion he’s already hard at work on sequel that will follow Robert the doll to his final resting place of the museum. Hopefully in the sequel, we will get to see the doll in more depth. That’s what this film was missing. [6]

A review on Boca De Inferno found the lack of budget was patent "in every scene". [7]

Sequels

Four sequels have followed: The Curse of Robert the Doll was released on 12 September 2016, [8] [9] The Toymaker on 21 August 2017, [10] The Revenge of Robert the Doll on 6 March 2018, [11] and Robert Reborn on 24 June 2019. [12]

Related Research Articles

<i>Ju-On</i> Japanese horror franchise created by Takashi Shimizu

Ju-On is a Japanese horror franchise created by Takashi Shimizu. The franchise began in 1998 with the release of the short films Katasumi and 4444444444. Shimizu attended the Film School of Tokyo, where he studied under Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Kurosawa helped Shimizu shepherd the Ju-On projects to fruition.

<i>Childs Play 2</i> 1990 film by John Lafia

Child's Play 2 is a 1990 American supernatural slasher film and the direct sequel to Child's Play, written by Don Mancini and directed by John Lafia, one of the co-writers of the first film. It is the second installment in the Child's Play franchise and set two years after the first film; the plot follows Charles Lee Ray continuing his pursuit for Andy Barclay, who was placed in foster care, and transferring his soul into him after being resurrected. Alex Vincent and Brad Dourif reprised their roles while Christine Elise, Jenny Agutter, Gerrit Graham and Grace Zabriskie joined the cast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Holland (filmmaker)</span> American filmmaker (born 1943)

Thomas Lee Holland is an American filmmaker. He is best known for his work in the horror film genre, penning the 1983 sequel to the classic Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho, directing and co-writing the first entry in the long-running Child's Play franchise, and writing and directing the cult vampire film Fright Night. He also directed the Stephen King adaptations The Langoliers and Thinner. He is a two-time Saturn Award recipient. Holland made the jump into children’s literature in 2018 when he co-wrote How to Scare a Monster with fellow writer Dustin Warburton.

<i>May</i> (film) 2002 film by Lucky McKee

May is a 2002 American psychological horror film written and directed by Lucky McKee in his directorial debut. Starring Angela Bettis, Jeremy Sisto, Anna Faris, and James Duval, the film follows a lonely young woman (Bettis) traumatized by a difficult childhood, and her increasingly desperate attempts to connect with the people around her.

<i>The Grudge 2</i> 2006 film by Takashi Shimizu

The Grudge 2 is a 2006 American supernatural horror film directed by Takashi Shimizu and written by Stephen Susco. The film is a sequel to The Grudge (2004) and the second installment in the American The Grudge film series, based on the Ju-On franchise created by Shimizu. It is the sixth and last Ju-On or The Grudge film directed by Shimizu. The film stars Arielle Kebbel, Amber Tamblyn, Jennifer Beals, Edison Chen, Sarah Roemer, and Sarah Michelle Gellar, the latter reprise her role from the first film. Like its predecessor, the film features a plot that is told through a nonlinear sequence of events and includes several intersecting subplots. It follows Karen's younger sister Aubrey coming to Japan after finding out about Doug's death, a schoolgirl named Allison being haunted by the ghosts of the Saeki family after entering the house with two of her classmates, and a young boy named Jake whose apartment building is haunted by the ghosts.

<i>Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings</i> 1994 American film

Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings is a 1994 American supernatural horror film and a sequel to the 1988 horror film Pumpkinhead. In this film, thrill-seeking teens resurrect a demon and come to regret it. The film is loosely connected to others in the series. The PC video game Bloodwings: Pumpkinhead's Revenge was released shortly after the film.

The Omen is a media franchise, centering on a series of supernatural horror films, which began in 1976. The series centers on Damien Thorn, a child born of Satan and given to Robert and Katherine Thorn as a child. It is revealed among families that Damien is in fact meant to be the Antichrist, and as an adult is attempting to gain control of the Thorn business and reach for the presidency.

The Amityville haunting is a modern folk story based on the true crimes of Ronald DeFeo Jr. On November 13, 1974, DeFeo shot and killed six members of his family at 112 Ocean Avenue, Amityville, on the south shore of Long Island. He was convicted of second-degree murder in November 1975. In December 1975, George and Kathy Lutz and their three children moved into the house. After 28 days, the Lutzes left the house, claiming to have been terrorized by paranormal phenomena while living there. The house became the subject of numerous investigations by paranormal researchers, journalists, and skeptics, including Ed and Lorraine Warren. These events served as the historical basis for Jay Anson's 1977 novel The Amityville Horror, which was followed by a number of sequels and was adapted into a film of the same name in 1979. Since then, many films have been produced that draw explicitly, to a greater or lesser extent, from these historical and literary sources. As Amityville is a real town and the stories of DeFeo and the Lutzes are historical, there can be no proprietary relationship to the underlying story elements associated with the Amityville haunting. As a result of this, there has been no restriction on the exploitation of the story by film producers, which is the reason that most of these films share no continuity, were produced by different companies, and tell widely varying stories.

Andrew Jones was a Welsh screenwriter, producer and director of low-budget independent feature films, mainly in the horror genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert (doll)</span> Allegedly haunted doll

Robert the Doll is an allegedly haunted doll exhibited at the East Martello Museum in Key West, Florida. Robert was once owned by painter, author, and Key West resident Robert Eugene Otto.

<i>Curse of Chucky</i> 2013 American slasher film by Don Mancini

Curse of Chucky is a 2013 American slasher film and the sixth installment of the Child's Play franchise. The film was written and directed by Don Mancini, who created the franchise and wrote the first six films. It stars Fiona Dourif, Danielle Bisutti, Brennan Elliott, Maitland McConnell, Chantal Quesnelle, Summer Howell, A Martinez, and Brad Dourif. The film grossed $3.8 million in DVD sales.

<i>The Howling</i> (franchise) American media franchise

The Howling is an American werewolf-themed horror media franchise that includes three novels and eight films. The series began with the 1977 horror novel The Howling by Gary Brandner, which was in 1981 adapted into the film of the same name, directed by Joe Dante.

<i>The Boy</i> (2016 film) 2016 film by William Brent Bell

The Boy is a 2016 horror film directed by William Brent Bell and written by Stacey Menear. The film stars Lauren Cohan and Rupert Evans. It is an international co-production between China and the United States. Filming began on March 10, 2015, in Victoria, British Columbia. STXfilms released The Boy in the United States on January 22. The film grossed $64 million worldwide on a $10 million budget. A sequel, Brahms: The Boy II, was released on February 21, 2020.

<i>The Conjuring</i> Universe American horror media franchise

The Conjuring Universe is an American horror franchise and shared universe centered on a series of supernatural horror films. The franchise is produced by New Line Cinema, Atomic Monster, and the Safran Company, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The films present a dramatization of the supposed real-life adventures of Ed and Lorraine Warren, paranormal investigators and authors associated with prominent yet controversial cases of haunting. The main series follows their attempts to assist people who find themselves harassed by spirits, while the spin-off films focus on the origins of some of the entities the Warrens have encountered.

<i>Cult of Chucky</i> 2017 American supernatural horror film

Cult of Chucky is a 2017 American supernatural slasher film written and directed by Don Mancini. The seventh installment of the Child's Play franchise, following the 2013 film Curse of Chucky, it stars Fiona Dourif, Michael Therriault, Adam Hurtig, Alex Vincent, Elisabeth Rosen, Grace Lynn Kung, Marina Stephenson Kerr, Zak Santiago, Ali Tataryn, Jennifer Tilly, Christine Elise, and Brad Dourif. Cult of Chucky began production in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in January 2017 and premiered at the London FrightFest Film Festival on August 24 the same year. As with the previous film, it was released direct-to-video by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment via Blu-ray, DVD and VOD on October 3.

<i>XX</i> (film) 2017 horror anthology film

XX is a 2017 American horror anthology film directed by Jovanka Vuckovic, Annie Clark, Roxanne Benjamin, and Karyn Kusama. It stars Natalie Brown, Melanie Lynskey, Breeda Wool, and Christina Kirk. It had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2017, and was released in the United States in select theaters and through video on demand on February 17, 2017, by Magnet Releasing.

<i>The Curse of Robert the Doll</i> 2016 horror film directed by Andrew Jones

The Curse of Robert the Doll is a 2016 British supernatural B-horror film written and directed by Andrew Jones. A sequel to the 2015 film Robert and a second installment to the Robert the Doll film series. It stars Jason Homewood, Nigel Barber, Chris Bell and Lee Bane. The film is about a young woman confronts the cursed Robert doll when she becomes the new custodian at a museum where the deadly toy is displayed.

<i>The Toymaker</i> (film) 2017 horror film directed by Andrew Jones

The Toymaker is a 2017 British supernatural horror film written and directed by Andrew Jones. A sequel to the (2016) film The Curse of Robert the Doll and (2015) film Robert and a third installment to the Robert the Doll film series. It stars Erick Hayden, Jo Weil, Nathan Head, Lee Bane and Sophie Willis. The film is about the Nazis pursuing a Toymaker who has acquired a mystical book which gives life to inanimate objects.

<i>The Legend of Robert the Doll</i> 2018 horror film directed by Andrew Jones

The Legend of Robert the Doll is a 2018 British supernatural horror film written and directed by Andrew Jones. It is a sequel to the (2017) film The Toymaker, (2016) film The Curse of Robert the Doll and (2015) film Robert and a fourth installment to the Robert the Doll film series. It stars Lee Bane, Harriet Rees, Judith Haley, Eloise Juryeff and Gareth Lawrence.

References

  1. "Robert The Doll (2015) Worth Watching? - ALL HORROR".
  2. "The Story Behind the World's Most Terrifying Haunted Doll". 25 October 2021.
  3. Vos, Gail De (2024-11-12). The Watkins Book of Urban Legends. Watkins Media Limited. ISBN   978-1-78678-887-0.
  4. "Robert (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes . 26 January 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  5. "Robert (2015) - reviews". Culture Crypt. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  6. "Film Review: Robert (2015)". 28 November 2016.
  7. "Robert the Doll (2015)". Boca do Inferno (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2016-02-17. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  8. "The Curse of Robert the Doll (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango . Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  9. "THE CURSE OF ROBERT THE DOLL". British Board of Film Classification . Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  10. "The Revenge of Robert the Doll (2018)". Boca do Inferno (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2019-08-21. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  11. Phalin, Mike (22 March 2018). "Filmmaker Andrew Jones Talks Killer Dolls, Jurassic Terrors, and Nazi Werewolves". Fanbolt. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  12. HorrorO (5 April 2019). ""Robert Reborn" Unleashes First Trailer". PromoteHorror.com. Retrieved 3 July 2019.