Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)

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Avg Rating: 4.4 / 5. Voted: 68

No one cared thus far. Do you?

AKA:
Directed by: Todd Solondz
Starring: Heather Matarazzo (Dawn), Daria Kalinina (Missy), Matthew Faber (Mark), Brendan Sexton III (Brandon), Eric Mabius (Steve)
Country: United States
Language: English
Runtime: 01:31:31
Genres: Teensploitation, Misery, Siblings-Family, Old-Young

Plot – Spoilers:
Dawn is a 12 year-old, desperate for acceptance. At school she’s regularly picked on, everyone thinks she’s fugly, her mother dotes on her pretty little sister Missy and her brother and Dad barely acknowledge her existence. Though everyone (apart from a boy whom other kids call a faggot) are uniformly uninterested in her, it’s Missy whom Dawn considers direct competition and loathes from the gut.

Dawn is pathetic and obedient at school, while a rebel at home. On the one hand, she stubbornly fights the urge to give in to her mother’s demands in exchange for a piece of dessert, and on the other, she meekly accepts lead bully Brandon’s orders to come on time for a rape session. It’s this dichotomy in Dawn, coupled with her resentment towards Missy that makes Welcome to the Dollhouse a tragicomic masterpiece.

Favorite Scene:
Dawn awkwardly enjoying her crush Steve performing the title track.

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Kiki
Kiki
June 25, 2023 1:23 am

Who tf made this bs?

Squeaky Fromme
Squeaky Fromme
June 14, 2022 4:58 am

Fine, don’t change “desert” or “come ‘on’ time” 😉
You’re incumbent for your errata, even though the stolid tenebrous viewers can’t distinguish your perfunctory indiscretions anyway.
A piece of dessert.
Come one time.

Mary Brunner
Mary Brunner
Reply to  Squeaky Fromme
June 14, 2022 5:15 am

Nobody cares… They’re not particularly relucent anyway.

Doll Face Dōrufeisu
Doll Face Dōrufeisu
Reply to  Admin
June 14, 2022 7:37 am

People are pedantic. Have a nice cup of coffee and good morning to you, though it’s eventide here 🙂

Aokigahara
Aokigahara
June 14, 2022 2:22 am

Admin, does Dawn meekly accept Brandon’s orders to come “one” time or “on” time?

Aokigahara
Aokigahara
June 14, 2022 2:07 am

Admin, fix your fucking “dessert”.

Doll Face Dōrufeisu
Doll Face Dōrufeisu
June 14, 2022 12:23 am

@Admin: ‘A piece of dessert’ Gary’s bitching and honestly, I don’t blame him. There are enough lowbrow uncultured boors, lamentably they don’t know any better so best not pioneer their insolency.
Arigatō, torafu de buta 😉

muffles
muffles
Reply to  Doll Face Dōrufeisu
June 14, 2022 12:44 am

Maybe you could use a bit less of your japanese to help. Not once have I understood what you are trying to say. I assume it comes from some sub-culture that has passed me by (most do). Not that my language skill has ever gone beyond ordering beer.

Doll Face Dōrufeisu
Doll Face Dōrufeisu
Reply to  muffles
June 14, 2022 12:52 am

I kudize your enquiry. I won’t disseminate in Japanese any further. I apologise for my passivity muffles, there was no effrontery intended whatsoever.

Clementine Kruczynsk
Clementine Kruczynsk
June 13, 2022 11:17 pm

Aussie Muriel (Toni Collette)

Gary .M. Heidnik
Gary .M. Heidnik
June 13, 2022 11:02 pm

‘A piece of dessert’
I think you meant…

Doll Face Dōrufeisu
Doll Face Dōrufeisu
Reply to  Gary .M. Heidnik
June 13, 2022 11:36 pm

Now now Gary, don’t be anally retentive. Incorporate an iota of complaisance and Admin will tend to your brusque reparation 😀
Kekkyokunotokoro, karera wa Amerika no kotondesu!

Gary .M. Heidnik
Gary .M. Heidnik
Reply to  Admin
June 14, 2022 7:34 am

Pfft.
Welcome.
Don’t be tardy next time.
After all, it’s your fucking devoir…

secretsanta
secretsanta
June 13, 2022 8:24 pm

my first viewing of this movie, never saw childhood so honestly on screen before

red
red
June 5, 2022 12:06 pm

one of my favorite movies!

Pitbullmama6
Pitbullmama6
May 25, 2022 9:39 pm

I love this movie. It’s not necessarily disturbing, but some of it is really funny. Has been a favorite of mine for decades.

Cujo
Cujo
Reply to  Pitbullmama6
June 14, 2022 2:28 am

I hope your pitbull tears your kids apart, nice doggy.

Reddie
Reddie
November 24, 2021 7:31 am

If she finally snapped and went on a killing spree I wouldn’t be mad at it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ SOMETHING’S gotta give.

secretsanta
secretsanta
Reply to  Reddie
June 13, 2022 8:14 pm

But she takes the unfairness, hypocracy and low cunning
and takes one more step forward despite coming to terms
with how much it sucks. She makes good decisions…I think

clean whore
clean whore
September 9, 2021 12:12 am

when i grew up i was treated like Dawn. everyone shit on me and in me. i grew up to be a drug addicted whore. i roam around, town to town type stuff. i make good money and i buy good drugs. the world still shits on me and in me. at least now i get paid for it.

Zed Man
Zed Man
Reply to  clean whore
September 9, 2021 1:06 am

I feel sorry for you, I hope life gives you a break. Best Wishes to you, your story is so sad.

tonyelmono
tonyelmono
August 13, 2021 8:18 am

Kind of an interesting change of pace. I appreciate EUM putting variety on this site. A little something for everyone.

Ricky
Ricky
August 4, 2021 10:24 pm

Dawn is brilliant and very relatebale. Such a wholesome movie at times but boy does it get dark too. Great pick, eum

Gary .M. Heidnik
Gary .M. Heidnik
Reply to  Ricky
June 13, 2022 11:07 pm

Relatable.
Ricky, get back inside your mother’s cunt, and don’t come back until you’re 14.

clocky14
clocky14
May 27, 2021 7:37 pm

why is this movie so addicting to watch… i mean its depressing af but its one of my favourites…

liquidpyramid
liquidpyramid
Reply to  clocky14
May 29, 2021 10:29 am

because its relatable

Gary .M. Heidnik
Gary .M. Heidnik
Reply to  clocky14
June 13, 2022 11:05 pm

It’s ‘addictive” not fucking ‘addicting’.

erik
erik
April 28, 2021 4:31 am

Fun Fact: this film was originally slated to be called ‘Faggots & Retards’, but was ultimately scrapped due to lack of marketability!

Antinatalpist
Antinatalpist
September 4, 2020 9:23 pm

I prefer his later works.. (from Palindromes on)

Daoist Sage
Daoist Sage
Reply to  Antinatalpist
June 14, 2022 12:12 am

Buddhism was understood as antinatalism by Jack Kerouac. The Marcionites believed that the visible world is an evil creation of a crude, cruel, jealous, angry demiurge, Yahweh.
But nonetheless, I don’t think you understand misanthropy at all dickhead 😉

Bad movies
Bad movies
September 4, 2020 4:25 pm

I have had a crush on the woman who played dawn since I was 12. I remember watching this on vhs and getting my first real boner haha

Johannes Johansen
Johannes Johansen
Reply to  Bad movies
September 29, 2020 6:34 pm

Lmfao she’s butt ugly ..

Zed Man
Zed Man
Reply to  Bad movies
September 18, 2021 11:02 am

She also starred in ”Hostel 2” and ended up tied up and suspended above a bathtub and being cut open so her blood flowed onto a woman below, a scene reminiscent from the film ”Bathory”, also on this site.

Clementine Kruczynsk
Clementine Kruczynsk
Reply to  Bad movies
June 13, 2022 11:13 pm

Ngl, she kinda reminds me of Marisa Tomei, now she’s quite an attractive actress imo 😉

Ewww
Ewww
Reply to  Clementine Kruczynsk
May 7, 2023 6:01 pm

You’re either blind or would fuck anything that woman is so fugly. She got the role for a reason

RedArmageddon
RedArmageddon
June 29, 2020 2:19 pm

This is great, but kinda of dull.
Our main protagonist, Dawn, is kinda of a pituful/lamentable dork (but I still have sympathy for her). Everyone else is wretched : her family is aloof/distant at best, detestable at worst (talking about her mom and Missy), her friend is ,,,, meh, not memorable and her relation w/ Brandon is weird.
Also, the pace is slow at time.
Thought, I really like the”I/We love you, Dawn” scene near the end.
It’s not a movie I’ll recommend, but if you like “Happiness” (1998), give it a shot !!
>:^]

Aurelia
Aurelia
Reply to  RedArmageddon
August 31, 2021 12:24 pm

this is what Tedd Solondz’s movies are about – bleak everyday characters that are meant to test your empathy 😉

secretsanta
secretsanta
Reply to  Aurelia
June 13, 2022 8:18 pm

I dont know his movies, this my first but im checking out the rest from here given that description

Bull
Bull
March 16, 2020 8:56 pm

Shit movie. Waste my time

sav
sav
Reply to  Bull
December 20, 2020 10:10 pm

go cry about it

Alice
Alice
Reply to  Bull
March 20, 2021 6:14 pm

5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐….I like this movie so much. It’s unusual.

clocky14
clocky14
Reply to  Alice
May 27, 2021 7:36 pm

me too… i dont know why im obssessed with this movie.. ive watched it like 3 times

lenetra
lenetra
Reply to  Bull
May 27, 2021 9:56 pm

you watched on your own

lenetra
lenetra
Reply to  Bull
November 3, 2021 9:09 pm

then go watch something else you big baby