The Dollmaker
Official synopsis
In a quiet village, a charming young man named Tomás leads a simple life: caring for his mother, working at the video store and town clinic, and collecting dolls. As women start disappearing, newly arrived Inspector Porter investigates.
Review
Director José María Cicala’s The Dollmaker (Encantador; Argentina, 2025) is an unnerving combination of the weird and the macabre. It’s also a candidate for feel-bad horror film of the year, and a terror tale you are not likely to easily forget. Tomás (Rodrigo Noya) is both socially active and socially awkward, working at a video rental store and helping out with a support group. When a series of disappearances occur in his small Argentinian town, the video store comes under investigation by a new-in-town officer despite the police chief’s lack of concern. The screenplay by Cicala and Griselda Sanchez is full of twists, red herrings, and surprises, keeping even seasoned fright-fare fanatics questioning events and characters until all is truly revealed. A great deal of the graphic, gruesome proceedings are dark indeed, and some kills truly startling. Noya leads a top-notch cast in a wild performance for which he won Screamfest’s Best Actor Award.
You can view the trailer at https://vimeo.com/1050110036.
A Fisherman’s Tale
Official synopsis
Legend says that long ago, nature thrived in harmony around the lake, until evil arrived. Men, blinded by dark desires, brought fear, hate, and death. Fishermen call it La Miringua, the one that drags you in the lake for your sins.
Review
The mermaid-like entity La Miringua escalates the evil that humans do in the fishing village in which A Fisherman’s Tale (Un cuento de pescadores; Mexico, 2024) is set. Director Edgar Nito, working from a screenplay that he cowrote with Alfredo Mendoza, focuses rather heavily on the fractured relationships and drama between the locals, which evidently didn’t need much prompting from a supernatural being. Devotees of scare-fare films featuring folklore and traditions from foreign countries should find this one well worth a watch.
Pitfall
Official synopsis
After a young man gets separated from his friends in the woods, he falls into a 10-foot deep pit of spikes, impaling him through his leg and leaving him trapped. He quickly learns that his fall was not an accident.
Review
I’m something of a hard sell on slasher movies, so director James Kondelik’s Pitfall doesn’t resonate for me as much as it might for aficionados of that horror subgenre. There’s not really anything new here when it comes to a mysterious villain chasing a group of protagonists through the forest in order to off them one by one, though the kills on display are certainly nasty enough to satisfy what slasher-film gorehounds crave. Though the performances are solid, with Alex Essoe giving a standout performance as a young woman grieving heavily over her parents’ deaths in front of her, the screenplay by Kondelik and Victor Rose provides standard friends-and-family dramatic fare. There’s also some fence-sitting regarding the backstory of killer Hunter (Randy Couture is certainly physically imposing in the role). Slasher movie enthusiasts and completists should find the stalk-and-slay elements worth a watch, though the plot points will likely be quite familiar.
The Dollmaker, A Fisherman’s Tale, and Pitfall screened as part of Screamfest, which took place from October 7–16, 2025, at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
