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What Happened to Dorothy Bell?

Play trailer Poster for What Happened to Dorothy Bell? 2024 1h 20m Drama Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
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86% Tomatometer 21 Reviews Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
Ozzie Gray sets out to investigate disturbing revelations from her childhood and her late grandmother, Dorothy. In an attempt to communicate with her grandmother, Ozzie awakens something more malevolent than she could have ever imagined.
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What Happened to Dorothy Bell?

What Happened to Dorothy Bell?

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Critics Consensus

A subtle, psychologically driven found footage, What Happened to Dorothy Bell? rises above genre conventions with its haunting exploration of inherited trauma and hidden family pain.

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Critics Reviews

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Brian Tallerico RogerEbert.com 09/27/2024
Meadows gives an impressively committed performance at the center of it all. Go to Full Review
Richard Whittaker Austin Chronicle 09/23/2024
Character study beats out simple scales here. However, it’s the style of What Happened to Dorothy Bell? that really distinguishes it. Go to Full Review
Julian Singleton Cinapse Jul 11
An intriguing found-footage film...with a clever mind for upending genre expectations and unpacking the rich and complex emotions at its core. Go to Full Review
Martin Unsworth Starburst 02/28/2025
4/5
Meadows is impressive as Ozzie, embodying the character flaws and all. Go to Full Review
Louisa Moore Screen Zealots 11/09/2024
The film's exploration of how trauma is passed down through families while remaining hidden under layers of silence and misunderstanding takes it a few notches above traditional found footage and psychological horror films. Go to Full Review
Ygraine Hackett-Cantabrana What a Scream Podcast 10/30/2024
3/5
...the dynamic use of the found-footage format and the exploration of family secrets and mental health male What Happened To Dorothy Bell an impressive first feature entry for director Danny Villanueva Jr. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Sierra T @RT68787309 15h The concept is fun, and it does a great job with flashback footage. Unfortunately, Ozzie (Main Character) suffers from 'Horror Main Character Syndrome', which means a overreaction to dumb things, an underreaction to big things, and the kind of self-preservation that leads her to do things like 1) Make a Ouiji, not tell anyone what's up 2) keep doing the same shit after there are clearly demons who murdered her therapist. 3) Keep returning to haunted locations without even trying to get some protection. 4)Getting everyone else killed. The actress is doing her best with a poorly written character, and her Monologue skills are top-notch. I think she should get into reading scary stories or something. Really talented. Its a okay generic horror movie. Great to put on if youre also doing a craft or something See more Stoner J. @Stoner May 24 It’s a solid, albeit moderately slow, found footage horror flick. Although it does not make sense how the protagonist is possessed when she did not read the Latin in the book. See more Taliya B @RT66481448 Mar 26 This movie was a waste of time. It dragged on for what felt like forever, yet nothing was happening. Ozzie seemed so oblivious to even the most in-your-face supernatural stuff. It was a waste of money to rent, and I wish I could get back the 1 hour and 20 minutes I spent watching this, so I could've watched a better movie. I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone. See more Stuart R @PRAGMATICADDICT Oct 21 Overall, it was a solid, engaging, unsettling mystery throughout and the film did do a hell of a lot more and a hell of a lot better for a found-footage horror.πŸ… See more Read all reviews
What Happened to Dorothy Bell?

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Movie Info

Synopsis Ozzie Gray sets out to investigate disturbing revelations from her childhood and her late grandmother, Dorothy. In an attempt to communicate with her grandmother, Ozzie awakens something more malevolent than she could have ever imagined.
Director
Danny Villanueva Jr.
Producer
Danny Villanueva Jr.
Screenwriter
Danny Villanueva Jr.
Distributor
Uncork'd Entertainment
Production Co
How Bizarre Pictures
Genre
Drama, Horror
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 21, 2025
Runtime
1h 20m