Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: WHAT HAPPENED TO DORIS? [Fantastic Fest - Austin, Texas]
As an inherent poltergeist story, “What Happened To Doris” is an inherently grounded experience that really takes you into the life of a woman in 1974 living with her three kids. Heather Graham plays Doris Dither and, after doing side characters for many years this film, set in Culver City, gives her something juicy to sink her teeth into that is not beyond her range per se. Nick Simon directs this movie with a steady hand and never tries to make it feel nostalgic. These characters are simply existing but they feel lived in. The kids have their issues with their mom and they are never solved but they feel again grounded which makes it work. A varying take on this movie was done in "The Entity" starring Barbara Hershey which this reviewer has not seen. But this take leading up into a fantastic climax simply happening in one room is beautifully done. This is efficient filmmaking done with style and widescreen intensity.
Mimi Rogers plays Lillian Ross, a parapsychology investigator who headed up the program of the same name at UCLA in the 70s. It eventually was disbanded leaving this investigation in a limbo. But the build and the questioning especially in how the entity is described as an incubus functions well because there is a weird logic to it that really locks the puzzle in place. Some of the dialogue can play against the grain depending on suspension of disbelief but it is played very straight. Doris, as played by Graham, is trying her best to raise her kids which all have different dads (but it never shames her for it). The practical structure of most of the effects (save for the end) reminds one of the final closet scene in "Poltergiest" in that it really delivers without losing the small details in the final scene. Things aren’t really solved but they are also allowed to breathe. People aren’t perfect and even the para-psychologists are out of their de path. And the fact that it happens on a normal street much like Poltergeist did makes it all the more chilling. 89%/B+
By Tim Wassberg
