What Happened to Dorothy Bell?

Play trailer

What Happened to Dorothy Bell?

2024

1h 20m

Drama

Horror

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

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.

Watch on Fandango at Home

Stream Now

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.

Read Critics Reviews

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

Feb 28

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

Read all reviews

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.🍅

See more

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Danny Villanueva Jr.

Director

Asya Meadows

Actor

Michael Hargrove

Actor

Lisa Wilcox

Actor

Arlene Arnone Bibbs

Actor

Steven Alonte

Actor

View more photos

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

Most Popular at Home Now