They free the doll, but horror doesn't follow. Comedy does.

Finley is no Chucky. He's more Al Bundy trapped inside a doll's body. In other words, The film begins with a group of college-aged friends moving into a large house that seems well beyond their price range, but it doesn't take long to discover why it's so cheap. While exploring, they find a doll chained inside a box in the attic.

I, for one, have seen too many horror movies and would never unchain a doll locked in a box, but this is a horror film.

Finley is kind of a loser.

He repeatedly tries to murder his new roommates and fails spectacularly. The classic toaster-in-the-tub plan falls apart after he forgets electrical appliances need to be plugged in. He tries to suffocate another character but forgets to cover the person's mouth. The failures just keep piling up.

Rather than trying to destroy the seemingly possessed doll, the twenty-somethings do something unexpected. They simply coexist with the bedeviled doll, treating him like an annoying roommate or an everyday nuisance.

That dynamic continues until the family cat poops on the rug. Desperate to cause chaos, Finley takes the blame, only to have his face rubbed in the cat's mess for his trouble.

Defeated, Finley exiles himself back to his prison, but the story isn't over. In what feels like a second short film attached to the first, two dangerous criminals break into the house with very real murderous intentions.

Thankfully, Finley comes to the rescue. Where his traps failed miserably against the roommates, they suddenly work flawlessly against actual killers. Practice, it seems, makes perfect.

Finley dispatches the criminals and becomes an unlikely hero. But as the final shot reminds us, once an evil doll, always an evil doll.

Finley is a fantastic showcase for its director. The script is funny and sharp. The practical effects are beautifully executed, the cinematography is polished and engaging, and although it runs longer than most shorts, it never stops being entertaining.