Short Film Review: Pappy’s World (2018)

On Christmas Eve, a girl fishes down a present from the top of an impossibly high pile of gifts with the help of her sleeping grandfather’s cane. upon opening the package she meets “Pappy” a talking doll that shows her strange visions. Soon the doll is out for blood (after a bit of a tickle sesh) and ol’ grandpa has to attempt to rescue his charge from that evil effigy; all while dealing with that doll’s devious deviltry and his own left-over trauma from the war. There’s also pie and doll fuckin’ involved…
What can I say; Pappy’s World is one fever dream of a sinister short! With it’s absolutely balls-to-the-wall surreal aesthetic, nightmarish visions, PTSD trauma, doll hookers…and so much more, I can guarantee you have never, ever seen anything even remotely close to this one horror hounds! Director/Co-writer Matt Wisniewski (aided and abetted by Co-writer/Actor Fred Polone…who also plays Grandpa and Pappy) have created a rich bit of world building where killer dolls stalk an anachronistic universe (Grandpa looks as if he exists in the Reconstruction Era, but his granddaughter and the wrapping paper used seem like they are from the 1940’s…but, there is a cathode ray television, and some of the score is ’80’s synth madness)…this brings to mind early Tim Burton; and that ain’t an easy thing to do; so kudos to these gents! Speaking of Polone; he gives a great performance not only as the voice of the killer doll, but also as Grandpa at different stages of his life…and Jaz Frazier is pretty damn sensational as his grand-daughter who becomes a bit of a vamp as the story progresses!
Enough talk; you boils n’ ghouls need to slap your putrid peepers on Pappy’s World as soon as it becomes available for public consumption; it’s a real nightmare ride of deadly dolls and a holiday of horrors!