The Boy
THE BOYÂ (15)
D: William Brent Bell
STX / Lakeshore / Huayi Brothers / Vertigo (Matt Berenson, Jodyne Herron, Gary Lucchesi, Tom Rosenberg & Jim Wedaa)
USA/China 🇺🇸 🇨🇳 2016
97 mins
Horror
W: Stacey Menear
DP: Daniel Pearl
Ed: Brian Berdan
Mus: Bear McCreary
Lauren Cohan (Greta Evans), Rupert Evans (Malcolm), Jim Norton (Mr. Heelshire), Diana Hardcastle (Mrs. Heelshire)
Uninspiring, unimaginative, drab horror film whose sole purpose it seems is to attempt to launch the career of Lauren Cohan, best known for TV's zombie hit The Walking Dead.
She plays a nanny who is hired by an unusual couple to be an au pair to a porcelain doll, whom they seemingly believe to be real.
There's a plot twist, but you'd have to be a moron not to see it coming.Â
Typical Hollywood production line rubbish. Yawn, next.
4/10
BRAHMS: THE BOY II (15)
D: William Brent Bell
STX / Lakeshore (Matt Berenson, Gary Lucchesi, Tom Rosenberg, Jim Wedaa, Eric Reid, Roy Lee & Richard S. Wright)
US 🇺🇸 2020
86 mins
Horror
W: Stacey Menear
DP: Karl Walter Lindenlaub
Ed: Brian Berdan
Mus: Brett Detar
Katie Holmes (Liza), Owain Yeoman (Sean), Christopher Convery (Jude), Ralph Ineson (Joseph), Anjali Jay (Dr. Lawrence)
A sequel nobody asked for to a film that didn’t deserve one.
Following a home invasion, a family move to a mansion where their young son finds a life-like doll of a small boy which he becomes attached to, resulting in some supernatural occurrences.
It’s basically a retread of the first film, with a mother character instead of an au pair, though Katie Holmes in the lead couldn’t look more bored if she put any effort into it.
It’s understandable how the first film made money, since it was a low budget affair and had a decent marketing campaign to put bums on cinema seats. It was pretty average stuff and not particularly memorable, serving as your typical popcorn-entertainment horror flick. This sequel has no real reason to exist at all. Lazy, predictable and not one bit scary.
3/10
