Black Devil Doll From Hell

Black Devil Doll From Hell
VHS artwork for the Hollywood Home Video release
Directed by	Chester Novell Turner
Produced by	Chester Novell Turner
Written by	Chester Novell Turner
Starring	Shirley L. Jones Gladys Ames Bernard Brown
Music by	Chester Novell Turner
Cinematography	Anna Holiday
Edited by	Chester Novell Turner David Ichikawa (recut)
Production company	CNT Production Company
Distributed by	Hollywood Home Video (VHS) Massacre Video (DVD)
Release date	1984 (VHS) 2013 (DVD)
Running time	70 minutes (1984 version) 140 minutes (director's cut)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$10,000

Black Devil Doll From Hell is a 1984 blaxploitation cult horror film that was written, directed, and produced by Chester Novell Turner, and is his directorial debut. The movie stars Shirley L. Jones, who would go on to perform in Turner's second feature Tales from the QuadeaD Zone, which released in 1987.

A copy of the film is held in the Yale University Libraries' archives.

Helen Black is a religious young woman who is determined to abstain from sex until marriage. This all changes once she purchases a supposedly haunted doll from a thrift store, after which point Helen's sex drive becomes insatiable.

When Turner began working on Black Devil Doll From Hell, he initially intended the story to be one of several featured in the anthology film Tales from the QuadeaD Zone. The short was turned into a feature-length film after Turner noted that the script had grown too long to be part of an anthology. Turner wrote the script over a period of three and a half days, however filming took place over several years on a budget of about $10,000. Most of the film's budget went towards paying the cast and crew involved with the film, as Turner was unaware that it is accepted practice for some performers and crew to work for free when making an independent film. During filming Turner began dating actress Shirley L. Jones, who would return for Turner's second film.

The titular devil doll from the movie was modeled after the performer Rick James and Turner's young nephew portrayed the doll in walking scenes. As Turner had no prior experience in filmmaking, he took a correspondence course to help him with the movie.

The film was first released in 1984 through Hollywood Home Video, a working relationship that Turner has described as exploitative. Copies of Black Devil Doll From Hell were circulated to various video rental stores, where they were rented "over and over and over". Despite the film enjoying some popularity, Turner only received $6 for each VHS copy purchased and was not certain how many copies of the film were actually sold by the distributor. Hollywood Home Video also made extensive edits to Turner's film, resulting in the removal of seventy minutes of footage and of Turner's original soundtrack.