The Short Night of the Glass Dolls

1971

1h 37m

Horror

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Reviews

55%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

A doctor of black magic uses the body of a nosy American journalist (Jean Sorel) to give students a lesson in anatomy.

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Audience Member

Aldo Lado's The Short Night of Glass Dolls right out of the gate was quite a terrifying concept for me, being conscience while perceived as dead. That alone kept me in suspense enough to endure some slower aspects of the film and some awkward acting. There were some great visual splendours and cinematography, but the storyline was a bit confusing. I am assuming it has something to do with a secret society of rich old people preventing ageing by kidnapping beautiful young women for some bizarre orgy ritual…maybe I missed something. The ending though unsatisfying left me unsettled in a way a horror should.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

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Audience Member

A disappointing giallo. The premise is relatively strong - an American journalist in Prague is discovered in a cataleptic stupor, mistaken for dead and delivered to the morgue; will he snap out of it before his own autopsy? - but the flashback story binding the thing together, some random guff about a missing girlfriend and a group of Satanists, is thoroughly dreary and too short on incident. Distinguished only by the presence of Ingrid Thulin and a below-par Morricone score, the best I can say of <i>Short Night of Glass Dolls</i> is that, like many another giallo (<i>The Perfume of the Lady in Black</i>, <i>The House with Laughing Windows</i>, etc), at least it has the courage of its own grisly convictions; the ending is almost worth waiting for.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/15/23

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Audience Member

Interesting premise, but lacking in substance. Good ending.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

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Audience Member

An American journalist recalls investigating the disappearance of his Czech girlfriend---as he lies on a mortuary slab, either dead or in a deep catatonic state. Extremely slow-moving and not worth the eventual black magic payoff. The title has nothing to do with anything.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

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Audience Member

A well done giallo, but very slow moving without much tension.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

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Audience Member

Told in flashbacks as our hero lies on a coroner's table, alive but frozen and unable to alert them that he isn't dead, this one makes for interesting viewing. Our lead is on the hunt for his missing girlfriend (the always lovely Barbara Bach) and meets with suspicious dead ends at every turn, until he ultimately finds himself in over his head. Worth a rental for sure.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

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Aldo Lado

Director

Ingrid Thulin

Jessica

Mario Adorf

Jacques Versain

Jean Sorel

Gregory Moore

Barbara Bach

Mira Svoboda

Fabijan Šovagović

Professor Karting

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Works better as an expose of the evil machinations of aging, wealthy and power-hungry conservatives than as either a murder-mystery or a horror yarn.

Rated: 2.5/4

Dec 21, 2018

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 2/5

Aug 11, 2005

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Michael W. Phillips, Jr.

Goatdog's Movies

There's more going on here than a simple slasher film.

Rated: 3.5/5

Dec 10, 2003

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Synopsis

A doctor of black magic uses the body of a nosy American journalist (Jean Sorel) to give students a lesson in anatomy.

Director: Aldo Lado
Production Co: Dieter Geissler Filmproduktion, Doria G. Film
Genre: Horror
Original Language: Italian
Release Date (Streaming): May 23, 2017
Runtime: 1h 37m

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