The creepy doll, Genevieve first appeared in the horror anthology Urban Fears back in 2019, and since then she has gone on to appear in a second anthology, 2021's Two Twisted Tales, as well as a variety of short films; Genevieve, Genevieve Wrecks Havoc, Camo vs. Genevieve, finally (for me at least) culminating in the forty five minute long Genevieve, which combined the earlier shorts into one whole, with the addition of extra scenes. I figured this was where the story of this particular creation ended, but a quick look at IMDB states that 2022 saw the release of Genevieve: Blood & Guts and Genevieve Strikes Again. Now, Nicholas Michael Jacobs is back with another entry in the series with Genevieve Rises, a film that he directed, wrote, produced, edited, scored, and acted in, also co-responsible for the cinematography.
Jeff (Nicholas Michael Jacobs) returns home one evening and happens to notice a strange book in his basement that he had never seen before. Figuring it may belong to his girlfriend, he sends her a text, then in the meantime begins browsing the handwritten 'Book of Souls', which he idly reads aloud from. This turns out to be quite a bad idea as it summons the mischievous doll..
If you have seen any of the other short films then you can probably guess the format of what happens here. The plot here is very similar to a lot of the other ones, resulting in the usual bizarre sight of someone wrestling with what is obviously a non-moving doll (there is a reason that the director refers to these as comedy horrors). There felt like there was maybe more of a supernatural element to this, but what made this feel different to me was the fun prop the doll gets to use, something which is hinted at in the intro title sequence to this thirteen minute film. This prop was my favourite part of Rises, was a fun addition that looked good on camera due to the sound effects added for it. Another highlight here was the score, fitted the visuals very well.
Despite the large number of entries in the series, it never really feels like the base idea is evolving too much, sometimes it can seem like a complete reset, rather than a continuation of what has come before. As much as I enjoyed this, it would be nice to get more variation in the general format. Still, for me it had been over a year, and so it was fun to return to the world of the creepy looking ever giggling doll (archived voice work of Alan Maxson I believe), especially with the creation of these shorts seeming to be more polished each and every time. Genevieve Rises is currently being submitted to film festivals. Check out the fab teaser trailer below.
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