Review of The Boy (2016) by Jesse O — 22 Jul 2016

You know your film has problems when the best thing about it is how gorgeous Lauren Cohan is. I'm not gonna say that this movie was out and out awful, because it wasn't, but it's not what I would call a particularly intriguing "horror" film.

And I put horror in quotation marks because, outside of the third act, there wasn't much in the way of horror to speak of in this movie. So that makes this film a bit of a rough watch when there's nothing really to motivate you to keep watching.

I suppose they thought the idea of a creepy doll and the mystery behind what actually happened to the real Brahms and the circumstances surrounding his fairly convenient death might have given the story some mileage.

And they do get some out of it, not a lot, but they do manage to stretch out the film's length. But, if we're being completely honest, it's not like what they do get out of it is really amazing or even good.

I suppose they were just wasting time until the third act of the film, which is where it gets better. There's also a subplot of Greta taking the job in England, she lives in the U.S, to get away from her possessive ex-boyfriend and how he keeps pestering Greta's family for some sort of information as to her whereabouts.

That obviously plays out in the end, with Cole, Greta's ex, going to where she works to bring her back home. Greta, believing the Brahms' doll to be possessed by his spirit, actually starts taking care of him after neglecting him at first and finding herself in situations where she feels that Brahms is trying to send her a message from.

..beyond, I guess. It somewhat works since Greta, before going to England, was pregnant with a child that she ended up losing during one of Cole's benders. So she embraces her new role as a caretaker as she can understand why the Heelshires would create a doll of their dead son, to deal with the grief of losing him.

The film has a twist and it's not exactly the most unique one nor is it the most surprising one, you can figure it out fairly easily, but at the very least it makes some sort of sense in its own context at least.

It wouldn't make much sense in a real-life setting, but this is a horror movie, fuck realism. Though, if we're really thinking about it, like what's the fucking point of going out and getting a doll.

The film would've worked much better if the Heelshires, Brahms' parents, were just speaking to someone that wasn't there. I think it would've led to a more suspenseful film for when Greta started hearing a child's voice or footsteps during her stay.

Yes, the alternative is a little basic and generic, but I don't know, I felt that having the doll there hurt the movie more than it benefited it. For marketing purposes, it's better to have a creepy doll than just.

..nothing to promote the flick with, but I felt that this would've been better with a different approach. Then again, I can't judge the film for what I wanted it to be. I have to judge it for what it is.

It's not like what I pointed out really affects my opinion of it that much, I just felt it was worth pointing out. This movie is below average. Lauren Cohan is pretty decent in this movie and she is absolutely gorgeous, but that's not reason enough to recommend this mediocre film.

Google pictures of Lauren and I guarantee you that that will be more satisfying than this flick.