There's something reliably disturbing about a ventriloquist act. Third only to taxidermists and gynaecologists among people you'd rather not find sitting next to you at a dinner party, ventriloquists reverse the natural order of things – giving grinning life to what should be inanimate, dead, silent.
Together with taxidermists (and gynaecologists, for that matter) these preternatural puppeteers have spawned a cinematic sub-genre all their own, feeding off our deepest psychoses of identity, or perhaps just exploiting an appealingly perverse avenue for horror.
Uncanny in the truly Freudian sense – at once familiar and deeply alien – a ventriloquist's dummy is the dysfunctional cousin of Chucky and Frankenstein who has yet to cut the paternal apron strings. These ties work both ways; as much as the ventriloquist gives life to his dummy so his dummy takes it from him. The puppet is a parasite in a bow tie, leeching personality and, if the films are to be believed, sanity from its master.
Far from the nattily-suited men of vaudeville gagging over a "gottle o' geer", ventriloquists' dummies on celluloid are an altogether more menacing breed. So whether it's a murderous psychopath (or two), a comedy partner, or even a "black devil doll from hell" you're after, there's an alter ego here for everyone. If you ask nicely it'll even sit on your lap.
1) Ealing Studios' 1945 horror hit Dead of Night gave birth to a new wave of British horror along with one of its most deviant dummies – Hugo. The ventriloquist (Michael Redgrave) may get his revenge here, but it's Max who gets the last laugh.
2) With all the subtlety and restraint you'd expect from the makers of Saw, Dead Silence extracts every last twitch of life from the dummy-horror genre. Just remember not to scream…
3) 'It walks; it talks; it sees; it kills!' Paying homage to cinematic forebears with another dummy named Hugo, 1964's Devil Doll bills itself as a 'most unusual suspense thriller'. Blending voodoo and ventriloquy, forget 'unusual', Devil Doll is mercifully unique.
4) In a rare twist The Great Gabbo's dummy Otto is a benign creature, which is more than can be said for The Great Gabbo himself. Watch the pair indulge in a little light-entertainment before the madness sets in.
5) A young, fisherman-jumpered Anthony Hopkins makes a foray into ventriloquism-horror in 1978's Magic. Hopkins may be the ventriloquist, but the puppets are the ones pulling the strings here.
Last week on Clip joint, Josh Du Sautoy filled us in on the best tatts on screen. Here are his picks from your suggestions.
1) Reiko Ike shows her tattoos and takes revenge in Sex & Fury. Thanks to AJBee.
2) nilpferd's clip has Harpo Marx showing off something by an old master, as well as her telephone number in Duck Soup.
3) Nothing says dedication to the Dark Side like an all-face tattoo, say Monkeybug and indiefreak.
4) So many comments for this one that it couldn't be left out, thanks to ExFi, alipan and Goalthreat among others.
5) And, finally, have you ever regretted a tattoo as much as Edward Norton in American History X? Nodule reckons not.
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