I just finished watching Attack of the Baby Doll and The Golem, two movies from Stunt Kitty Films. Both flicks are directed by Debora Roventini and written/produced by Rob Robinson. These are two no-budget video productions that look as if they were made with a low-grade home video camera. I mean, there are no production values at play here at all, especially in Attack of the Baby Doll. But I respect the effort Roventini and Robinson have put forth. Stunt Kitty Films has a website and several DVDs available for sale. They’re also making the rounds at various film fests, so they are definitely taking this seriously.

Attack of the Baby Doll is a short film about a former drag queen’s love of dolls, anchored around a musical number called “Drag Queen’s Lament,” which is styled and performed like a show tune. The whole affair is amateurish and misguided—it looks like something a high school drama student would film to display on YouTube. The lead performances by Phillip Faiss and Debora Roventini are terribly broad and mannered, and the whole thing is too long at 27 minutes.

Now, The Golem is a much more serious attempt at a film. It’s the story of a family that has gathered at the old homestead following the death of their father. While packing up the house, they discover that, before he died, their father had made a golem and stashed him in the garage. While the sons and daughter deal with old family resentments and petty arguments common during these occasions, the golem comes to life and attacks them…and they kill it. And everyone forgives each other. That’s it. The Golem is a combination of horror and family melodrama that never quite takes off. Although this flick shows a surer grasp of filmmaking technique than Attack of the Baby Doll, it is hampered by wooden acting, a slow script and, yes, poor production values. Victoria Reid Taylor does good work here as the daughter, but the rest of the cast is forgettable at best. Roventini overlays and intersperses home movie footage over the film as it progresses, and this does manage to evoke a mood of melancholy that works well for the bathos but effectively cancels out the horror angle. I think the filmmakers would have been better off sticking to straight-ahead drama here and not mixing in an inane supernatural plot. But, as I said, this is the technically superior film of the two Stunt Kitty DVDs I watched.

I wholeheartedly support independent film and digital video productions, and I admire the fact that Stunt Kitty is out there living the dream and making it happen. In the future, I’d really like to see them put a little more effort into their projects. There is talent at play here, but they need to make sure they have a script that works and then make more of an investment into the production of the movies. It’s time for them to take the next step in their journey. Oh, and a good first step would be to stay away from ill-conceived musicals about baby doll collectors, guys.