Review of The Boy (2016) by Junelkean — 24 Jan 2018

Considering how many successful doll movies have existed from Chucky in the "Child's Play" franchise and Billy Puppet in "Dead Silence," it's surprising that everyone is still sick in watching this type of horror movies. Why is that so? Are these bound to be future cult classic horror films? Or they're satisfying Halloween guilty pleasures? Or maybe, they're just plain bad movies? "The Boy," takes that premise, but would it be terrifying?

Unlike many horror movies during Hollywood's "dump months," The Boy is not as bad some of those lackluster films. Nope, The Boy isn't awful, but it's also far from being great. It has its palpable moments of suspense as director William Brent Bell sustains a polite amount of tension and builds an eerie tone. Lauren Cohen and Rupert Evans star as the two protagonists - both are convincing movie stars, through all its ridiculous twists and turns. The twist is revealed, and all of a sudden, everything goes back to zero. Seems like the writer doesn't know how to make a satisfying pay-off to the audience.

VERDICT: Just like the titular character, there's a lot of mysteries and eeriness in here. But just like many other horror films, it's utterly undone by a ridiculous twist, that we'd prefer to forget we ever saw.