AMERICAN DOLLHOUSE
Written & Directed by John Valley
Starring Hailley Lauren (1923), Kelsey Pribilski (Man Finds Tape), Tinus Seaux (The Pizzagate Massacre), Danielle Evon Ploeger (RATS!), and Richard C. Jones (HBO Max’s Love & Death)
SXSW WORLD PREMIERE
Saturday, March 13th, 10:30pm
Alamo Lamar 4
Already one of the buzziest titles at this year’s SXSW, AMERICAN DOLLHOUSE will have its World Premiere on Saturday, March 14 in the celebrated Midnighters section of the SXSW 2026 Film Festival.
Written and directed by John Valley, the Austin-set thriller marks the filmmaker’s highly anticipated sophomore feature and a continued evolution into elevated genre storytelling. The film stars Hailley Lauren (1923), Kelsey Pribilski (Man Finds Tape), Tinus Seaux (The Pizzagate Massacre), Danielle Evon Ploeger (RATS!), and Richard C. Jones (HBO Max’s Love & Death).
A true homegrown production, the cast and crew of AMERICAN DOLLHOUSE are based entirely in Austin, where the film was also shot and produced. The project underscores the strength of Austin’s independent film community.
Synopsis:
A woman inherits her childhood home, seeking solace from a chaotic city life marked by addiction and debt. Unbeknownst to her, a psychotic neighbor becomes disturbingly obsessed with her due to a haunting resemblance to the neighbor’s deceased mother. As the fixation turns violent, her friends begin disappearing one by one, drawing her into a perverted, blood-soaked Christmas nightmare she may not survive.
On premiering the film at SXSW in his hometown, Valley said, “Premiering at SXSW is a real dream come true for me. This film was made by real artists and technicians for the love of the craft, so debuting it here, in front of this audience, is incredibly meaningful.”
AMERICAN DOLLHOUSE was produced by David Axe, Samuel Butler, Shane Greb along with Jon Wroblewski, and Christian Sosa of Austin-based production company Roosevelt Film Lab. Cinematographer is Taylor Camarot. Executive producers are Amado DeHoyos, Richard C. Jones, Shane Greb, Stephan Jensen, Elizabeth Spear, Hector Acosta, Dan Lenker, Zebulon “Ziggy” Griggs and Melissa Sellers Drake.
John Valley first gained attention with his debut feature, The Pizzagate Massacre, which earned a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and was described by Vice as “a grindhouse Pizzagate satire that perfectly captures a moment in time.” With AMERICAN DOLLHOUSE, he leans into psychological horror, delivering a modern riff on proto-slasher touchstones like Psycho and Black Christmas while exploring themes of grief, obsession, and fractured identity.
