Miss Leslie’s Dolls

Leslie becomes obsessed with Martha because she bears a striking resemblance to a woman who once worked at her mother's doll factory. That woman died in a fire decades ago, a fire that also claimed Leslie's mother. The resemblance triggers Leslie's plan to possess Martha's body, believing she can reincarnate into the young woman's vessel.

Earlier, Leslie mentions Martha's resemblance to the factory worker, planting the seed for her possession plan.

Leslie Lamont is actually a man with severe burn scars who wears a prosthetic mask to appear as a woman. The revelation comes during Alma's confrontation with Leslie, when she tears off the mask and discovers the scarred male face underneath.

Leslie's feminine appearance is subtly unsettling throughout, and her voice occasionally wavers in pitch.

Leslie murdered her own mother to prevent being committed to a psychiatric hospital. While communing with her mother's skull in the basement, Leslie berates the spirit, accusing it of sabotaging her attempts to possess a living body and revealing she killed her mother to avoid institutionalization.

Leslie's disturbed state and obsession with the occult hint at a traumatic backstory involving her mother.

Leslie practices a self-made religion centered on possession and rebirth. She believes she can transfer her spirit into a living body, specifically targeting Martha. Her basement chamber serves as an altar where she performs rituals with her collection of mannequins and preserved corpses, believing she can eventually inhabit Martha's young body.

The basement shrine with lifelike mannequins around a goblet of fire hints at Leslie's belief system.

Yes, Leslie successfully possesses Alma. After chasing her through the woods to a graveyard, Leslie's physical body disintegrates, but her spirit transfers into Alma's body. The possessed Alma then returns to the farmhouse and seduces Roy, continuing the cycle of horror.

Throughout the film, Leslie discusses her belief in reincarnation and her mother's spirit interfering with her plans.

Leslie drugs her guests, specifically Alma and Roy, to gain control over them during the night. She drugs two items in the meal (sandwiches and wine) to make her guests more vulnerable and to facilitate her ritual. Alma notices feeling drugged afterward, which heightens her fear.

Leslie's mood flips between hospitality and menace while preparing the meal, showing her dual nature.

Leslie Lamont is portrayed as a transsexual woman living in isolation. She is described as a disturbed transsexual woman who has undergone male-to-female transition. The reveal that she is actually a man with burn scars wearing a prosthetic mask complicates this identity, suggesting either deception or a distorted self-image.

Leslie's feminine presentation is established from the beginning, though her behavior remains unsettling.

Leslie collects female corpses and lifelike mannequins as part of her occult religion focused on possession and rebirth. She spends her days grave robbing and preserving bodies, believing she can eventually possess a living vessel. The mannequins represent her ideal form, while the corpses are vessels she hopes to use.

The basement workshop contains the mannequin chamber with a goblet of fire, central to her rituals.

Leslie targets these particular students because Martha perfectly matches the woman from her mother's doll factory who died in the fire. This resemblance makes Martha the ideal vessel for Leslie's reincarnation plan. The other students become victims either through witnessing too much or simply being in the wrong place.

Leslie's immediate fixation on Martha's appearance establishes her as the primary target.

Roy is locked in a cage after Leslie attacks him in the kitchen. Leslie strangles him unconscious with an axe handle, then apparently imprisons him in a cage in the basement area. Roy later awakens trapped while Alma continues fleeing through the house.

Roy's trip downstairs for wine places him directly in Leslie's path.

Decades before the film, a fire broke out at Leslie's mother's doll factory. The fire killed two people: a woman who worked at the factory (who resembled young Martha) and Leslie's mother. This tragedy fuels Leslie's obsession with Martha and her belief that she must possess the lookalike to complete her transformation.

Leslie mentions Martha's resemblance to the factory worker shortly after meeting her.