Finders Keepers (2014 TV Movie) User Reviews

Watchable but lacklustre on the whole...

[TheLittleSongbird · 4/10 · 13 November 2014]

For SyFy, Finders Keepers is not so bad and is a long way from their worst. As a movie in general though, it does have some good things and looks like some effort went into it but it doesn't quite come together. Starting with the positives, the movie actually looks good(and for a SyFy movie that is quite a compliment), with some very effective lighting, crisp editing and unobtrusive camera work. The music does create some atmosphere, not an exceptional one by all means but it fits the movie and doesn't try to be too obvious, the doll is very creepy-looking and there are some scary moments. A few performances come over quite well, the best of the lot coming from Kylie Rogers who is both adorable and terrifying, while Jaime Pressley is a sympathetic and somewhat touching mother figure. Most of the acting is not particularly strong, consisting of a lot of under-acting with Patrick Muldoon phoning it in, and Tobin Bell is wasted.

Finders Keepers as said has some moments that are scary and suspenseful, they only came in spades rather than the movie being continually creepy. Most of the movie was lacking in scares and atmosphere for me, it was more predictable than suspenseful, the gore and scare factor were too toned down a lot of the time and a lot of moments that should have been scary came across as silly instead. The characters are almost impossible to root for and connect with, they are very underdeveloped and you get frustrated with how stupid some of their actions are as a consequence perhaps of focusing too much on the relationship between Rogers and Pressley's characters and side-lining everybody else which was a large part of why most of the acting did not register.

The direction is technically competent but when it comes to maintaining momentum, atmosphere and making the characters and chemistry interesting it fails, and the dialogue is often horrid, the worst of which enough to make one cringe. The story had bags of potential and effort clearly was made to it with a very original idea, but it was a case of trying to do too much and not explaining enough, making it feel muddled and underwritten. Some of the plot twists border on idiotic, as seen in the senseless ending, and the story feels too padded out in places. And I wish they did more with the doll, it is a very creepily-designed character but there is a real sense that the writers weren't sure what it was, offering at least four different explanations as to what it really was but it was never made clear which one it actually was. Overall, for SyFy Finders Keepers was watchable but was in personal opinion was very lacking. It is not as though there isn't any talent on display here because there is, it is such a shame that that just didn't come across here. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Not terrible, far from great. Excellent for young Horror rookies (no sex/gore/foul language/extreme violence).

[nitzanhavoc · 5/10 · 20 February 2015]

I happened to learn of this film while checking a trailer for another (good ol' YouTube recommendation). Apparently, it's an original TV film made by a channel called Syfy, a fact made obvious by the lighting and cinematography, and perhaps the fact that NONE of the main characters are credited here on IMDb without clicking the "see full cast" link!

Anyways, nothing original about the story... violent murder in a house, reasons unknown, evil haunted doll recovered, rinse and repeat. Deja-vu? Bluntly so... I must say I liked the acting, especially by 10 year old Kylie Rogers as little Claire. Having to play such a role when you're only 10 isn't easy (though not half as challenging or impressive as other young lead roles like in Mama or The Ring), and I think Rogers showed some real talent.

The story develops nicely, but not more than that. The doll is pretty creepy though! Not easy presenting scary dolls nowadays after the high raft set by Saw and The Conjuring. Certain scenes were really amateur, for instance when one of the characters trips on a wire it is painfully visible that she simply ducked and rolled down the stairs... Why give stuntman Steve Austin the first credit when other stunts were so miserably performed? Beats me.

All in all, this is the kind of film you can definitely enjoy, but only if you set your Horror meter to mediocre and below. I enjoyed watching it, and I liked the fact that it lacked any sex, gore or extreme violence, making it suitable for younger Horror fans. It isn't terrible, but it's far from great. As always, I recommend you ignore my (or anyone else's) opinion and judge for yourselves!

Suffers heavily from lack of killer doll action

[Seth_Rogue_One · 4/10 · 27 September 2015]

I didn't expect much from Jamie Pressly as a serious actress but I must say she wasn't terrible, not great but better than expected at least.

Story albeit predictable is somewhat enjoyable BUT yeah the big issue here is not the acting or or the plot which from a killer doll movie you really can't expect much from anyways.

Looking at the cover of course it made me think "ooh wee another killer doll movie like Chucky, this can be good fun if nothing else".

BUT, the doll doesn't actually move on screen it's all done behind camera or shot in a way where you can only see for instance a knife being moved around and the stabbing victim etc, you don't actually get to see the doll doing of the stabbing or making any funny remarks (like Chucky would have) while doing it.

Had it shown that this would have been a vastly more enjoyable experience, I understand that it would be hard to make it look realistic but I'd rather have them do it poorly looking than just to avoid it completely.

Hands down one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

[victor-188-890652 · 1/10 · 14 March 2015]

Want clichés? This movie gotya covered.

Want good old Micheal Bay inspired editing? Slowmotion and explosions.. constantly.

How about a child that wont stop screaming? Yeah sure throw it in there.

It's got stale acting, a plot that has been seen a bagillion times already. Want to see this movie? Go pirate it. It's not worth any kind of money.

Oh and just for the sake of comedic relief (also why I've included this review with a spoiler warning) when the Mexican plumber randomly checked the pipes and said that "taking someone else's (whatever the hell he called the doll) means bad luck" and walks away, I was certain that I was going to have a good chuckle at this movies terrible writing.

Wish I could give it 0/10, but a 1 is a 1.

No effort put onto this at all

[aaronjconroy · 1/10 · 21 May 2017]

This film is so painfully awful. Basically, a family is murdered by their son who is possessed by a doll. 5 years later a divorced mother and her 9 yr old daughter move in. The kid finds the doll and then this absolute lazy joke of a film starts.

In short, both parents are going through a tough time with the divorce and now their 9 year old is throwing tantrums and being the most irritating rude child you could imagine. The daughter in this movie is just a brat, plain and simple. The director wants you to feel sorry for her but she screeches her way through an hour and half that I'll never get back.

There is a rinse and repeat in the film about 10 times. In short, everyone the little brat comes into contact with whether directly or indirectly, verbally or visually, she kills them. Well the doll kills them. So anytime someone appears on screen that's not her mother, father or Tobin Bell who is wasted in this movie by having 2 scenes as a child psychiatrist, they are gonna die. Some of them, under the same circumstances as people earlier in the film. Honestly it is laughable how both parents after finding out about at least a dozen murders don't decide to something other than stare in disbelief at their annoying little psycho daughter.

Save yourself the time and watch any other horror you come across

For a SyFy movie, surprisingly watchable.

[chrismackey1972 · 4/10 · 1 November 2014]

Alyson (Jaime Pressly) and her daughter Clair (Kylie Rogers) move into a home, but unknown to them, it has an evil past. The people who lived there before them were murdered by their 8-yr old son who had become possessed by an evil doll. Now, Clair has become possessed by the same doll, which she found inside a vent in her room.

I have to say I was impressed by Jaime Pressly's acting in this. This is the first time I've seen her in a straight out dramatic role. Granted, I haven't seen that many things with her, but she was very good in this. However, I didn't like her hairstyle. The front of it wasn't bad, but the almost shaved back of her head was very odd to see on a woman, and they must have had about 4 different scenes where they had a close up of it. Kylie Rogers did a very good job as well as the troubled and possessed Clair. Patrick Muldoon portrayed Alyson's ex-husband. I haven't seen him in anything since Starship Troopers. He was more of a side-character in this, as the movie was much more focused on Pressly and Rogers.

I gave this a 4-star rating. I wouldn't want to see it again, because I'm not a fan of possession movies, but I enjoyed it enough to sit through it. I have to say that parts of this kind of reminded me of The Conjuring. For something from the SyFy channel, this was surprisingly watchable.

Finders Keepers

[a_baron · 2/10 · 12 January 2015]

Woman buys house then realises it is haunted. Or something is. She has a child, in this case a daughter, but if you've seen a similar offering in which the woman has a son or the man has a son, or there is a family or a whole bunch of them, you might be forgiven for experiencing a sense of déjà vu. Guess what comes next, and you get only the one guess. Of course, murders, lots of them!

There is no secret about the root of the evil as from the off we are made aware of the reason the house is haunted, there had been a massacre there, one committed by a ten year old boy, who also murdered the two police officers who were sent to investigate the initial disturbance, or whatever it was.

Kylie Rogers who plays Claire was only 10 years old when this film was released. If her role does not constitute child abuse then an adult willingly sitting through 80+ minutes of this constitutes self-abuse (no, not in that sense, you reprobate). Indeed there is no sex to speak of in this film, not that a rape, an orgy or even a knee trembler could have made it appreciably worse.

Deaths became ridiculous, the horror deteriorated and became boring.

[jamie_lee_stock · 3/10 · 21 December 2014]

I enjoyed the storyline, I believe the beginning of the film looked as though it would be a mixture between 'Sinister' and 'Anabelle'. As the film progresses, the horror of the film slowly deteriorated and actually became to be quite boring. I think the characters weren't as well rounded as they could have been and every new day of the film seemed to be repetitive.

I enjoyed it up to about halfway, there was literally a death every 5- 10 minutes but the 'killer' was never actually revealed and it was a little confusing. The story line about a sinister doll and possessed child looked as though it could have been a winner, but was disappointed.

Good low budget horror

[MattyGibbs · 7/10 · 14 March 2015]

My hopes were not too high before watching this but I was surprised that it is actually pretty good.

It's a familiar tale, family move into a house with a horrible history and bad things happen. We have seen it all a hundred times but thanks to a good cast and some nice directing this still manages to satisfy.

There were a number of well handled tension filled scenes that prove that horror isn't and shouldn't be all about the gore. Although it's fairly predictable I still felt pretty tense at times watching it. The cast all did a good job but a special mention must go to the little girl who plays the young daughter Claire ( Kylie Rogers) who is genuinely chilling as the possessed girl.

For a small budget horror film this is a good film and is certainly on a par with many of it's higher budgeted rivals.

Just so dull...

[rebeccalucy · 2/10 · 1 November 2017]

Could have been a good idea if it was executed better. The doll looks creepy but leaves the question of why any child would go near it? It's kind of a plot hole that the Mother even let her have in it in the first place.

Furthermore, the child actor is really unlikable and bratty. The mother allows her to get away with awful behaviour, it makes it so hard to identify with her or have any sympathy. Most of the acting is either okay or horrible. There aren't many good uses of cinematography or lighting either. Settings that are used are also dull, just another spooky house.

A good point is the idea of the doll controlling the girl, they get kinda creative with how it effects her. But I would say skip this boring horror!

Enjoyable and genuinely creepy killer doll effort

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 9/10 · 20 October 2014]

Moving into a new house, her daughter's connection to a strange doll left at the house soon turns deadly when they find a series of deaths connected to the being and must try to save her before it's too late.

This was actually quite a bit of fun and had a lot really going for it. The most important is the one that drives the whole film, as the doll itself is genuinely creepy and chilling with a defined look and air about it that really has the appearance of something malevolent out there. That goes a long way here towards making these actions all the more creepy and chilling by not only emphasizing what's going on but also doing it along with the notions of it being committed by a creepy doll. That this leads to several highly enjoyable scenes as the couple try to leave their apartment knowing that someone is in their with them leading into the final confrontation in the bedroom, the diner stalking and finally the big confrontation in the house at the end which not only adds a rather impressive amount of action to the proceedings so that there's a lot to really like throughout this. From the numerous amount of time spent here trying to determine if what's going on here is really just the doll or rather it's the girl committing everything, this subplot actually does a whole lot more than the rest of the film centered around the doll as there's enough life in this angle that it really does seem believable that one of them is the real case here which is quite fun and makes the film wholly enjoyable as it tries to weave all the different encounters that could provide such answers. That, in effect, leaves the film with a slew of exciting confrontations centered around a chilling main villain and augmented by enough creepy side-plots, actions and decent death scenes to make for a really exciting effort, though there's one rather big problem here that does keep this from a perfect score. Early on, the behavior of the girl towards her parents as well as people out on the town really should've been handled better so that it doesn't reek of ineffective parenting on their part due to how uncontrollable she is. There's numerous occasions where the parents were totally justified in at the very least slapping the girl or even providing a crueler source of discipline toward her to be more accountable for her, yet none of this really happens which causes them to look quite ineffective at their responsibilities. Otherwise, this one tends to come off rather well.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Language, Brief Nudity and children-in-jeopardy.

Chucky meets the Exorcist

[lymullen · 6/10 · 15 November 2014]

This movie had several very scary moments, from beginning. It starts off with a bang. But there were also quite a few parts that had me rolling my eyes and shaking my head starting with the mom allowing her daughter to keep a doll that looked that creepy, especially when she found out about the previous owner. Anyone would have separated the girl from the doll that day.

Instead the mother goes to visit the boy who owned the doll previously to ask him why he did what he did. Huh? who would do that? Yet even after that she allowed the daughter keep the doll. Further I doubt they would have let the mother waltz in and speak to the boy *alone* considering the crime he had committed.

Another thing that got me is that even as the bodies were piling up, the police were only called once. I felt so sorry for the mother's friend who told them how to break the curse. Did they even call 911 for her? Also we never got the full story regarding the doll, how it became so evil etc.

I was going to give this 6 stars for watch-ability because it was very entertaining. Yeah, I'll still give it 6 stars. 5 would mean it was humdrum average, but it certainly was not.

Bad

[sod-skt · 1/10 · 16 May 2020]

Poorly story, really bad acting specially from the mother

If you find this movie, don't keep it

[adi_2002 · 3/10 · 10 June 2015]

A mother moves into a new house along with her daughter. The little girl finds a creepy doll and becomes possessed by it.

The director was inspired by the Chucky series and The Exorcist for the scene with the neck twist and for the end witch look exactly like the classic horror masterpiece. The difference is that this movie is less scary and much weaker. The only good thing about this was the acting, it wasn't that bad especially Claire for her age was very convincing in the role of a possessed girl.

In rest there's not much too say about this film, it's not too boring but doesn't excel at other chapters.

The only thing left is to convince yourself and watch it but don't expect for a surprise from this.

This is the SH!TT!EST movie i've ever seen

[thespiderpablo · 1/10 · 8 August 2016]

This movie is a ridiculous unrealistic piece of SH!T that seems to try to be scary. The parents are incredibly stupid. Cat lady should've issued a police report. Wish the director had enough of a brain to give better reactions while filming. Kylie Rogers was okay but I wish her character was more realistic. The director should take some advice from James Wan or Stephen King. The best horror movie directors i've ever seen. Movie wasn't scary isn't worth the watch and is simply but, a piece of SH!T . I bet keeping up with the kardashians is better than this trash. No offense to the director but try making the characters more realistic, better reactions, and better police. If its set in the modern world, than have it be set IN THE MODERN FUKING WORLD

Another deadly doll flick.

[BA_Harrison · 4/10 · 22 September 2017]

If I had known beforehand that Finders Keepers was a made-for-TV movie, distributed by SyFy, I probably would have given it a wide berth. As such, the film is, for the most part, a rather tepid tale that provides very few scares—yet another in a long line of derivative horror films that revolve around a creepy doll.

Jaime Pressly stars as Alyson Simon, mother and estranged wife, who moves into a new home with her young daughter Claire (Kylie Rogers). Life takes a turn for the worse for Alyson, however, when her little girl becomes obsessed with Lilith, the strange looking doll hidden that she discovers hidden under a floor vent. It's not long before Claire begins to exhibit very strange behaviour while those around her start to turn up dead.

This plot is so well-worn that it practically writes itself, with the girl and the doll becoming inseparable while her parents try to figure out what the hell is going on. Several characters are introduced simply to become victims: Tobin Bell as child psychologist Dr. Freeman, Marina Sirtis as nosy neighbour Janine, and Justina Machado as occult expert Professor Elena Carranza, whose nasty death scene—eyes plucked out and set alight—is easily the highlight of this otherwise forgettable fright flick.

Best Description For Finders Keepers? Yawn!

[dfa120374 · 3/10 · 30 June 2015]

Purely as a Syfy Channel movie Finders Keepers is OK....well, compared to other garbage movies that gets shown on that channel....but overall it's still a WAY below average boring horror with very mediocre acting, no atmosphere or tension, and a shallow story.

For me, the best part about this film was Kylie Rogers who does a very decent job in the role as Claire Simon, the wee girl who becomes obsessed with the doll she finds in her new house. It's amazing how these sweet innocent looking kids can do a great job (for the most part) of being vicious little s*its.

Obviously, Rogers is not enough to save this film from being anything more than the dull outing that it is, however, but at least she was the one positive from this weak horror. It's just a pity there was only one positive, though.

Finders Keepers MAY have been a wee bit better if more effort was put into the structure of the story and if there was more of a background. I mean, one minute Alyson & Claire are moving into a great big house (which is nonsense as well as why would a mother & daughter need such a huge house?), then the next they are fully moved in with Claire already possessed. There's no sort of build up to these events...or any events throughout the film for that matter. It's really just a mish-mash of scenes that have been edited together with no lead-ups to anything.

Also, some of the scenes are pretty ridiculous as well i.e. a waitress telling a wee girl, who she doesn't know, that her doll is ugly. Really?! I guess I shouldn't complain that much seeing as this film comes from a channel that shows movies like Sharknado, Piranhaconda, Mega Python Vs Gatoroid, and Skarktopus.

Finders Keepers isn't a horrible movie but I wouldn't really bother with it if I were you.

Not the worst Syfy movie but still not great

[princess_za1974 · 4/10 · 30 August 2015]

Well...it's better then the CGI-fest monster movies Scyfy ejects from their butts every other day but it still suffers from some glaring problems.

Acting is sub-par with the exception of Tobin Bell, Digital effects are pretty awful, practical effects are not good either, the majority of the kills make absolutely no sense and the climax was kinda ridiculous. Seriously? Charizard was the spirit possessing the doll? What the hell Charizard? don't you have anything better to do then possess little girls?

You Freak.

I WISH THEY WERE ALL DEAD

[nogodnomasters · 6/10 · 30 August 2018]

Mom (Jaime Pressly) and her daughter Claire (Kylie Rogers) move into the "bad house" where all the killings happened. Claire finds a butt ugly doll and bonds with it to the dismay of all the dead people it leaves in its wake. It is just of question of who lives and dies and how to set up for a sequel if somebody buys the DVD.

You don't see the doll do anything. The special effects consist of a door shutting by itself. Steve Austin is billed as the star, but has a late walk on roll as an unnamed garbage man. They could have gotten Danny Trejo for that and had an ugly contest with the doll.

Works as a rental with low expectations.

Guide: No F-bombs, sex, or nudity.

Terrible

[homage1138 · 1/10 · 31 October 2018]

So terrible. Just a flat, boring, predictable film. No shocks or smiles or good performances.

Another Doll movie that is not rated good that Should be!

[mr_waterfall · 8/10 · 18 December 2016]

A fan of doll movies, this one is way up there, i luckily found it i think in a Family Video store. I bought it instantly. Many of these types or horror in general to many people are usually very picky on grading good movies badly.

Here you already got a creepy doll, just picture yourself in these movies, for starters and the doll is already creepy. It possesses the girl badly you can tell even when the doll is hurting herself by slapping her face to get the mother in trouble! I mean i was like Damnnn, thats like some vicious stuff, i was like blown away, seeing her hit her own face and were talking of a little girl repeatedly slapping her own face to get her mother in trouble saying she abused her! The doll also was causing so much evil and death, i mean like wow, and not many movies Especially the movie THE BOY didn't do any of this and it had a higher rating, Shakes my head. This movie is cool creepy and fun, unlike most horror movies out today that are too CGI and too lame, with this movie its more of a Annabelle. But even better, i think, through i like that movie too and bought it has well. I just think this had a more evil doll, through Annabelle did too, but more spooky and did more. I love it, despite what others think i watch a movie i suck myself into it lock myself deep into what the writer and everyone is trying to show and if its good i love it if not i don't, and i for one love it. 83%

Creepy premise, poor script

[mbyrne16648099 · 3/10 · 17 April 2019]

Things accelerate fast in this movie. The body count is high, some of the casualties have nothing to do with the family involved. You don't build a bond with any of the characters as the average life span of a character is less than 5mins of screen time (other than Mother and Daughter). It's a bit tedious and repetitive more than scary. It's a bit mad that the police don't question the family after the dad's partner and the next door neighbour die on the same night. Some great police work there. It's just a fiesta of death and mayhem that takes away most of the suspense and terror. Occasionally there is the odd bit of great acting and good directing but its so rare the film fails to hold your attention. Don't watch.

my first review

[Ralf-T · 2/10 · 10 March 2017]

Finders Keepers (2014) review. Had to write this, so nobody will loose their time watching it. . That movie is an explosion of clichés. ------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Who makes these low quality "movies" so yeah, i feel better now

Has anyone said "they can keep it" yet?

[GiraffeDoor · 5/10 · 29 February 2020]

I totally forgot I'd seen this movie.

Despite both Jaime Priesley AND Tobin Bell in top form, this is a very generic experience. You know the kind: the kid finds something and talks and that's on top of the tedious domestic problems they're already having.

You can tell from the way the doll looks that this won't be well made: in a scary movie the doll can't look too scary because that makes it way too obvious it's malevolent. Dangerous things don't look dangerous, that's why they're more dangerous. Does that make sense?

Anyway, I don't remember this annoying me the way a lot of other horror movies have in the past it's just really forgettable despite its curiously high star power.

Lol

[madisonlisak · 1/10 · 15 June 2020]

I reviewed the wrong finders keepers.... the cover imagine was similar my bad