“The Boy” Review

Turning a child’s toy into something menacing and scary is not something easy to do although we’ve seen it executed well before in movies like “Chuckie”, and “Annabell”. Unfortunatel,y this is not like those movies. Director William Bell Brent tries his best, but instead of being terrifying, the storyline is downright laughable.

The movie begins when American nanny Greta (Lauren Cohan) moves all the way to the UK to escape an abusive boyfriend and isolate herself from her old life. Upon her arrival, she meets the Heelshires (Jim Norton and Diana Hardcastle) who own a dark gothic manor, which houses themselves and their son Brahms. Greta soon discovers that the boy is actually a doll, which the Heelshires treat like a human being, including a daily schedule and set of rules.

The old couple seem anxious to begin their vacation and hurriedly leave Greta alone with Brahms. She simply tosses him out of sight and goes about her day. Strange things begin to happen, including the doll moving and belongings of Greta’s disappearing. Throughout the entire movie, the audience (and Greta) believe that the doll is possessed or something supernatural is to blame for the strange occurrences.

Grocery boy Malcom (Rupert Evans) is happy to explain that Brahms actually died in a fire twenty years ago, and the doll has been a placeholder for an actual son ever since. The movie takes a turn when Greta actually begins to care for the doll and treat him like a real little boy. At the close of the movie a twist that most people could see coming from a mile away, occurs and things go from weird to really weird.

Overall, the movie relied heavily on jump scares and the general creepiness of the dark manor and although it was visually scary it simply wasn’t enough at times. The doll could be viewed as creepy, but the lack of a clear motive for his supposed diabolical ways make it hard to believe. The actors all fit their roles well and gave serious dramatic performances. Unfortunately, that only made the movie funnier.

There are some genuinely scary moments, but they are few and far between. A scene where Greta is trapped in the attic gets very intense, but it’s ending was anticlimactic with her simply fainting and awaking in broad daylight. Although there are other efforts to be scary or suspenseful, this movie simply can’t compare to any other modern horror movie.

If you are dying to see this movie, I would wait until it appears at Redbox because in my opinion it wasn’t worth the trip to the theatre. The acting may be solid, but the plot line has far too much going on, and leaves far too many holes for the movie to be scary. Visually it is a bit creepy, so if you’re just looking for a quick scare then maybe this is the movie for you. However, I could think of many better ways to spend an hour and a half.