MovieChat Forums > The Dollmaker (1984) Discussion > I cannot stand this movie.

I cannot stand this movie.

posted 16 years ago by BabyCharmander
23 replies | jump to latest

(WARNING, spoilers ahead)

Before you start lashing out at me, let me explain.

I don't think this is a bad movie. Not at all. I just can't stand to watch it.

I watched this movie a few months back. Not really paying attention to it, though. My mom was watching it and I was in the same room, surfing the 'net on my laptop and half paying attention to the movie. It was pretty decent, I thought, but nothing I'd watch over again.

Then I saw the part where the little girl got run over by a train.

...I can't explain it. Something about that whole scene was so horrible that I would never be able to watch it again. The part with the mom in the car, holding the girl in her arms while the girl's face is horrifically white and she's saying "I can't see, mommy..." or something... I just can't stand it.

Same thing happened with an episode of the X-files where a little kid got run over by a train. I was relatively young when I saw that, but it still had the same impact on me. It was so upsetting that I couldn't stand it.

I didn't cry or anything, but... It's hard to explain. The impact that scene had on me was worse than any other movie. I've cried at other movies, but this one just... Well, like I said, I can't explain it.

Anyone else have this problem?

[–] javajk-javajk 16 years ago

SPOILER ALERT:

(I don't know what the criteria are for labelling a post with "spoiler alert"; however, the poster after me indicates that I should have done so. I apologize for not knowing the ropes better.) (edited on 12/26/2008)

It has been ten years or more since I saw this film. (have seen it only once) I understand what you are expressing, I think. Reading the novel delivers the same "bad punch" when one reads the chapter about Cassie's death. Probably, I won't ever watch the movie again. This is a dark, despairing novel. Even though Gertie obviously will survive and continue with life, the ambience is foreboding, grim, and hopeless.

There is another film which I cannot bear to watch ever again. (have seen it twice): "The Mission" I cannot hold up during the scene when the mission is evacuated, and the parents can carry only two children with them -- and are forced to leave additional children behind. My heart breaks and I cannot bear this scene AT ALL.

[–] bsugirlchrist 16 years ago

SPOILER alert please

[–] BabyCharmander 16 years ago

Oh, sorry. :X Since this is a forum dedicated to a movie, I kindof though people would have watched the movie before coming here.

[–] jen_78 10 years ago

Seriously? You're going to complain about a spoiler for a movie that came out in 1984???? HAHAHAH. Guess what, Dorothy melts the witch too.

[–] wonkahead 16 years ago

I completely agree. The last time I saw this movie was when it originally aired in the mid-80's and I still remember the train scene as if I saw it yesterday. It was VERY disturbing...Probably one of the most disturbing scenes I've ever witnessed in a movie. But I do think it was a very good movie overall, which is why I'm on this website trying to figure out where I can find it.

[–] perorewen 16 years ago

I think this was the film I saw some 15 year back and this is the ONLY scene I remember, and I'd love to see it again.

Is this the film where the mother, when seing her daugthers dead body in the hospital, she grows very mad, throwing money around and yelling to the doctors?

**********
They blew up Congress!!! HAHAHA!

[–] sei23 16 years ago

I was 8 years old when I saw this on TV with my mother, and yes it's the only scene I remember. I was so sad for that little girl I named my cabbage patch doll Cassie. I wouldn't say I hate the movie, it made an impact on me though.

[–] thomas-em 15 years ago

i must have also been affected by this movie in a similar way because it has been 20 years and i have been searching for it since then..i cant believe i got my answer so quick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! all i can remember is the one train scene and jane fonda in bed mourning..i must rent it immediatly!!

[–] andystrach 15 years ago

I haven't actually seen this, but I'm reading a book on fiction writing (characters and viewpoint) by the author Orson Scott Card and he described that scene and it had a similar effect on him. It sounds like one of those scenes that just sticks in the mind.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] angel_svn 14 years ago

Hey, more than a year later and I'm reading the same book ... and I came looking to learn more about this film based on his mention. :-)

[–] slouchingpoet 14 years ago

I feel the same was as the OP. My mother loves this movie but the whole thing disturbs the hell out of me. And yes, the train scene is the worst.

[–] crml4 13 years ago

Hi all, I know im late in replying to this but this is the first time ive ever heard about this movie. Ive never watched it but i heard my mam talking about it the other day. In all of my life, ive never seen my mother so upset over a film. She watched it once, and once only and she said it took her years to get over the devestation she felt about this movie as a whole. She said the acting was excellent and the story was brilliant but she was so haunted, not by the train scene (because she said that was equally heartbreaking) but when she's pulling all the money out of her coat at the hospital and throwing it all over and not comprehending that the child has died

She told me to not watch it [because i genuinely get upset for months about things like that. Anyone mentions the Titanic, not the movie now, but the event and the death, im crying and thinking it over for days and days] and i have to say im not in a rush to watch it.

Can anyone tell me, does it have a remotely happy ending, like is she alright? Does she get back to the hometown? Or does it end as sad as the whole story?

"To air is human, to forgive devine"

[–] bad_horror_lover_grl 12 years ago

crml4,
At the very end of the movie, the family packs up, and drives away back home. It is a very sad movie, (the book is on my "to read" list) but if you get upset easily, this will be a very difficult movie to watch. The scene with Cassie is bad enough, but overall, there are just a lot of depressing, unfair things that happen. If you do watch it, I'd recommend having ice cream and a happy movie on standby.

Into the mud, scum queen!
Who are you talking to?
Oh, just some scum queen.

[–] bad_horror_lover_grl 12 years ago

BabyCharmander, I know how you feel. I can't watch the scene in Pet Sematary with Gage at the very beginning for the exact same reason. It's funny, though, because it never bothered me that much until after I had my son.

Into the mud, scum queen!
Who are you talking to?
Oh, just some scum queen.