If Mark Jones keeps it up he might be able to match Charles Band and his fetish for miniature doll/creature horror movies. Band's love of all things small is quite well documented, this is the guy who brought us the Puppet Master series as well as Demonic Toys and countless others, but it has to say something about Jones and his latest effort, Triloquist, when it's his third movie to feature a pint-size killer (those being the first Leprechaun movie and Rumpelstiltskin). As with his other movies, this one does sport an okay sense of humour but it also gets a decent performance from Paydin Lopachin in the lead and is directed competently. However, I couldn't help feel throughout that there was something missing from the mix I wasn't quite able put my finger on.

Meet "Billy Boy", our narrator for the movie and a cowboy-themed ventriloquist dummy. When we first cross his path in Las Vegas back in 1993, he's part of an act put on by a heroin addicted wannabe star that's living in a hotel with her two children. Things change, though, when mom overdoses and leaves her kids behind. They end-up having to go live with their alcoholic Uncle, conveniently killed by Billy, who is quite alive despite being made out of wood. Sure, the set-up isn't much new, but Jones has staged these flashbacks in fuzzy black & white, which gives things a bit more of an eye-catching look.

Flash forward to modern day where Angelina (Lopachin) and Norbert (Rocky Marquette) are all grown-up and generally down on their luck. It doesn't help that she's a sarcastic, sex kitten of a psycho who thinks everyone wants to sleep with her and he's a mute, mentally handicapped looking guy who's been in the psych ward after being accused of murdering good old Unc. Only now he's out, Billy has been taken out of storage, and our trio are heading for Vegas to get their own slice of the fame pie.

That's not to say that along the way they won't kill anyone who crosses their path and tries to impede their goals. This gives us a bunch of uninspiring deaths (which are pretty muted considering this was put out on the Dimension Extreme label - home to such unrelenting bloodiness as Storm Warning and Inside), has our siblings kidnapping a girl so Norbert can get her pregnant and bring back their mother's spirit, has Lopachin cashing in on the opportunity to push her character over the edge multiple times, and maintains a goofy, tongue-in-cheek tone that offers a few mild chuckles but manages to snuff any attempts at actual suspense - something Jones doesn't seem too interested in anyway, despite some moments with the kidnapped that he tries to make "intense".

In the end, Triloquist is lots of silly and not much else. I admit to liking how they've staged the movie and the doll they've used for Billy looks alright even if it has minimal movements (mostly just the mouth and eyes), but the script seems to get sidetracked by the ridiculous kidnapping/rebirth sub-plot and the deaths, which are the drawing card of this type of movie, aren't memorable enough to make an impression.

That's really too bad as the potential to make a scary ventriloquist doll horror flick doesn't get touched upon too often. Usually efforts with them as their main focus take the over-the-top, "aren't we funny?" route when a film such as 1978's Magic proves that, when taken seriously, such an off beat, kind of dopey, premise can deliver the goods. (Chris Hartley, 7/8/08)

Directed By: Mark Jones.
Written By: Mark Jones.

Starring: Paydin Lopachin, Rocky Marquette, Katie Chonacas, Brian Krouse.

Picture Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: The transfer here is a little soft at times and there are a few specks evident but the picture here is generally solid and completely acceptable.

Extras: Dimension Extreme usually put a good amount of special features on their releases but that's not the case here. Unless you count trailers for their other discs before the menu screen as "extras" you'll get nothing.