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Crime Cult Classic

A rain-soaked detour leads to occult obsession and lifelike dolls in Miss Leslie's eerie farmhouse.

MISS LESLIE'S DOLLS

Who hasn't played with Real Dolls at sometime or other?

1973 · 1h 25m · R · Crime / Drama / Horror · IMDB TMDB

Three attractive University students and their equally attractive teacher seek shelter in a house on a dark and stormy night. The house is occupied by the strange “Miss Leslie” and her strangely lifelike “dolls”.

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Vault Note

When the dolls look back at you, it's never just the thunder that's unsettling.

Programmer's Pick

Miss Leslie's Dolls cranks up the cult oddity with a deranged recluse, storm-drenched strangers, and a collection of disturbingly lifelike dolls. Joseph G. Prieto blends crime, drama, and horror with a bizarre occult twist, set in a farmhouse you won't soon forget.

— SassyFlix Programmer
Quick Answer
What is Miss Leslie's Dolls about?

Miss Leslie's Dolls is a 1973 American crime, drama, and horror film directed by Joseph G. Prieto about a deranged woman obsessed with the occult and collecting corpses, who shelters a stranded professor and students in her rural farmhouse.

Details & Specs
Director
Joseph G. Prieto
Writers
Ralph Remy Jr., Joseph G. Prieto
Release
1973
Runtime
1h 25m
Country
United States of America
Language
English
Genres
Crime, Drama, Horror

Synopsis

Leslie Lamont is a deranged transsexual woman who lives in isolation in a rural farmhouse. Leslie spends her time studying the occult, grave robbing, and collecting the corpses of biological women, whose bodies she aspires to possess. Late one night, young professor Alma Frost, along with three of her students, Lily, Martha, and Roy Sanders, are forced to stop their drive back to Boston due to a torrential downpour. They seek shelter in Leslie's house, and she agrees to let them stay. Leslie is visibly disturbed by Martha, whom she says resembles a woman who worked in her mother's doll factory, also named Martha, who died two decades prior in a fire; the fire also claimed the life of Leslie's mother.

In a room in the basement, Roy finds a small stage with what appears to be multiple lifelike female mannequins posed around a goblet of fire. Disturbed, Roy brings Lily and Martha to see the room. Leslie enters the room with Alma, and explains that the room is a place of worship for her own self-constructed religion. Leslie prepares a meal for her guests, consisting of sandwiches, coffee, and wine, the latter two she has drugged. As the four eat, Leslie listens in on their discussion, in which Roy chastises Alma for being uptight.

As the group retire for the night, Martha and Roy begin to have sex to the chagrin of Lily, who is sharing a room with Alma. Alma, a repressed lesbian, attempts to make a sexual advance on Lily, who declines. Alma persists, and the two have sex. After, Alma complains that she feels she has been drugged. After Alma falls asleep, Lily confronts Martha and Roy in bed, and asks to stay in their room. Meanwhile, Leslie preserves a woman's corpse in the basement before communing with her dead mother's skull. Leslie chastises her mother, accusing her spirit of causing Leslie's various attempts to possess a female corpse to fail. She also reveals that she murdered her mother to prevent her from having Leslie committed to a psychiatric hospital. Leslie unveils her plan to be reincarnated in the young Martha's body.

Roy goes downstairs to obtain more wine, and is followed by Lily. In the kitchen, Leslie strangles him unconscious with the handle of an axe. Lily walks in on the murder, and is attacked by Leslie, who hacks her to death. The screams stir Martha, who rushes downstairs and stumbles upon the scene. Leslie attacks Martha on the staircase and hypnotizes her with her pendulum necklace.

Meanwhile, Alma has a nightmare in which she is chained in Leslie's altar room, and the mannequins come to life and torment her. Alma awakens from the nightmare and stumbles through the house, finding her students missing. In a chamber in the basement, Alma finds Lily's bloody corpse. Leslie confronts Alma, and in a struggle, Alma removes a prosthetic mask, revealing Leslie is in fact a man with severe burn scars. Alma flees outside, while Roy awakens in a locked cage. Leslie chases Alma into the woods and to a graveyard, where Alma collapses. There, Leslie's body suddenly disintegrates, and her spirit successfully inhabits Alma's body. Now possessing Alma's body, Leslie returns to the house and seduces Roy.

Why Cult

Occult Obsessions

Miss Leslie spends her nights studying the occult and grave robbing, which gives the film its eerie, off-kilter edge.

Lifelike Dolls

The farmhouse is filled with Miss Leslie's unsettling 'dolls'—corpses of women whose bodies she covets.

Stormy Night Intruders

A torrential downpour forces a teacher and three students to seek shelter in Miss Leslie's isolated house, setting off a night of bizarre revelations.

Questions from the Vault

What is Miss Leslie's Dolls about? +

Miss Leslie's Dolls is about a deranged woman obsessed with the occult and collecting the corpses of women, who shelters stranded travelers in her rural farmhouse.

When was Miss Leslie's Dolls released? +

Miss Leslie's Dolls was released in 1973.

Who directed Miss Leslie's Dolls? +

Joseph G. Prieto directed Miss Leslie's Dolls.

How long is Miss Leslie's Dolls? +

Miss Leslie's Dolls has a runtime of 85 minutes.

What genre is Miss Leslie's Dolls? +

Miss Leslie's Dolls is a crime, drama, and horror film.