Miss Leslie's Dolls (1973)

"Bonkers Grindhouse Treasure"

Oh yes, if you like completely crazy low budget movies from the early 1970s that look as if they were shot for a couple of dollars because the rest of the budget went on whatever substances everyone was 'experimenting with' then MISS LESLIE'S DOLLS is just the kind of whacked out weirdo looniness for you. 

Three girls and one man end up stranded in a thunderstorm when their car breaks down. They take refuge at the only house in the area, one which is next to a graveyard filled with suspiciously wooden and uniform-looking crosses.

Careful with that axe, Eugenie

The house is owned by Miss Leslie. I can't do a better description of Miss Leslie than Network's press release does so here it is: 'less a mild mannered spinster and more an axe-wielding homicidal cross-dresser intent on transferring his spirit into the nubile body of any young girl foolish enough to come visiting'.

Can you hear me, mother?

There's the plot, then. Except, as with all the best insane movies, that's only a fraction of the appeal of this one. Miss Leslie is obviously a man dressed up, but she has been dubbed with a female voice. The dolls of the title are her failed experiments which have now been arranged in an artful tableaux like something out of an early Harrison Marks film. 

The dolls in all their glory

There's a bit of nudity, some in and out of bed shenanigans, and a dream sequence near the end that is so batshit crazy you get the feeling that was what the director actually wanted to make and just did all the other mad stuff to make the dream look not quite so mad. It almost works but not quite. 

I can quite honesly say I've never seen anything quite like MISS LESLIE'S DOLLS. Imagine if David Lynch had the technical competence of Herschell Gordon Lewis and you'll be part of the way there, and if that mixture sounds appealing this is a piece of loony obscurity you need in your life.

If you've read this far down you should be expecting something like this

Network's DVD & Blu-ray (a worldwide premiere no less) doesn't contain any extras, but considering that prints of this would hardly have been treated with any special care this looks really good for its age. A bit like Miss Leslie herself, in fact. Mad, bad and dangerous to buy. Go for it. 

MISS LESLIE'S DOLLS is out now on Blu-ray and DVD 

from Network, and it's getting a digital release on 

1st October 2018