Should You Seek Out the Answer to What Happened to Dorthy Bell? (FANTASTIC)
Title: What Happened to Dorothy Bell?
First Non-Festival Release: TBD
Director: Danny Villanueva Jr.
Writer: Danny Villanueva Jr.
Runtime: 80 Minutes
Starring: Asya Meadows, Darren Gray, Lisa Wilcox
Where to Watch: Check out where to find it here
This film’s review was written after its screening at the Fantastic Film Festival in 2024.
After learning the truth behind her facial scar, Ozzie (Asya Meadows) is determined to understand why her grandmother Dorothy (Arlene Arone Bibbs) cut her face open as a child. Now an adult herself, Ozzie returns to her hometown long after her family left to see if she can find out more about her grandmother and that fateful night. All leads take her to the local library where her grandmother worked, where people still believe they can see Dorothy haunting the halls.
A run-of-the-mill found footage ghost story, What Happened to Dorothy Bell? frustrates with its predictability.
The story behind a haunted book leaves for many opportunities for the team to get fun and creative with its premise. Unfortunately, that is not the case for What Happened to Dorothy Bell?. Ozzie’s grandmother’s descent into madness is documented with clips from Ozzie’s childhood interwoven with the present day. Although gone, Dorothy Bell’s presence lingers as Ozzie combs through her backstory to get to the bottom of her breakdown. Ozzie’s scars, both physically and mentally, change the trajectory of her life forcing her to uncover the reasons why she endured the trauma she did. Unfortunately, as the film switches gears from exploring Ozzie’s childhood trauma to explaining the background of its cursed object, it gets silly in its explanations.
Inconsistencies with its own mythology twists the mystery into something predictable and repetitive. Learning more about the origin of Dorothy Bell’s corruption, the film shifts gears by revealing the kooky supernatural explanation for her change in behavior. Labeled a witch for her actions taken after crossing paths with a cursed book, Dorothy Bell’s possession comes across more as hokey rather than terrifying. This backstory doesn’t do much in terms of her development nor does it create a truly terrifying supernatural baddie. The story twists itself in tangles trying to make sense of its nonsensical rules and odd timeline. In the end, its toothless and rote approach to horror becomes its downfall.
Technically adept, the scares are light as the camera largely recreates scenes from better films that came before it. Mostly stuck in a dimly lit library, What Happened to Dorothy Bell? sticks to the tired approach of misdirection and slow camera pans that lead to either nothing or the horror jumping out at the camera like a carnival ride. A few shocking images aside, most of the suspense comes from static shots or slow pans that reveal something amiss. Constrained to the same few pov shots throughout the film to conjure up scares, the repetition gets to What Happened to Dorothy Bell? making it a largely predictable affair. That being said, the film is shot confidently and with competence, even if the scares don’t fully manifest. It comes off more as an imaginative issue rather than one of skill.
It’s not all bad though. Lead actor Asya Meadows gives a solid performance of an introspective art girl trying to make sense of her past through creative media. Imbuing a sense of curiosity and vulnerability to Ozzie, Meadows does their best to bring the limp script to life. With the film primarily resting on their shoulders, Meadows commands the screen even when the story wades far into the familiar and sells even the silliest moments. Their voice takes over, even when they aren’t onscreen, allowing the film to continue unbridled by the burdens of a typical irritating found footage horror protagonist.
There are certainly worse found footage and supernatural horror films out there but it’s still disappointing to say that this one doesn’t do much to stand out from the pack. Combining typical found footage scares with a standard story, there isn’t much differentiating What Happened to Dorothy Bell? from other efforts. A solid central performance and adept productions only takes the film so far. Found footage cinephiles and those seeking a generic thrill will find enough to enjoy out of it, but for most others, What Happened to Dorothy Bell? will be another entry in a long line of forgettable fare in an already crowded sub-genre.
Overall Score? 5/10
