AMONG THE DOLLS

The antique dollhouse Vicky's parents buy for her tenth birthday—instead of the hoped-for ten-speed bike—distresses her even more when she finds herself inside it, the prisoner and intended slave of the contentious doll family whose nasty dispositions she herself has programmed in her unhappy play sessions. Escape is effected (with the help of a new baby doll she had added to the family) when Vicky discovers that her captives too have a dollhouse—a miniature replica of her own home and family through which they manipulate the humans. An ingenious, teasing little twist on behavior control, with just enough psychological furnishing to materialize the spooky fascination of old dollhouses.