Review of The Boy (2016) by Sonia S — 25 Feb 2016

*Spoilers*.

I just watched this movie and liked it, it's not the best horror movie I've seen, but it's definitely not one of the worst either. I think it's not bad. I had no problem understanding most of the story. Not surprised with the movie critics bad reviews since it's quite rare for any of them to give a horror movie a good review or high rating, so I don't let their opinion influence my decision, but do take the reviews from other viewers into consideration in my decision to watch a movie.

One complain I read is that it wasn't explained how Greta, a young woman from a small town in Montana found a job in a remote English village. The Heelshires have no Internet or cell service and seem to have stopped communicating with the outside world decades ago. Maybe Greta decided to travel from the US to the UK, to get as far away as possible from her abusive exboyfriend, and once in that country found out about the job by someone in town, maybe an employment agency hired by the Heelshires to find a new nanny for Brahms. But who really cares? It not really relevant to the story.

Seems to me that after Brahms murdered the girl in the woods (he was possibly born unable to feel empathy), and his parents decided to protect him from getting discovered and taken away, by faking his death with a house fire, either because they were scared of him or just didn't want to lose their son, or Brahm himself set the fire. A month after the "death" of their child, they got the porcelain doll that they started treating as their son, while their real son lived hidden away inside the walls of their huge mansion.

Another possibility is that Brahms set the house fire (maybe accidentally or to kill his parents?), and the parents did believe that he died, and to cope with the grief of losing their only child, they got the doll and started treating it as their real son, while the real Brahms who survived the fire (but got at least scars on face from getting burn, which would explain him wearing the porcelain mask to cover his face) hid inside the walls of the house, where he remained and lived in for the next 20 years, only coming out when he could do so unseen. Brahms could have convinced his parents that his spirit was inhabiting the doll, the same way he got Greta to believe it, and for 20 years the parents lived in fear of this possessed doll. It is possible that Brahms could have killed the previous nannies that he "rejected". It would explain why his parents were tired of their existence and guilty conscience, and why they decided to commit suicide. But they didn't want to leave their "son" alone, so they hired the new nanny Greta, which Brahms approved of before they could leave for their "holiday" (vacation), which they had planned so they could commit suicide. That is why Brahms mother whispers "I'm sorry" in Greta's ear when she hugs her goodbye, she knew they weren't coming back and were leaving Greta with their dangerous son. I think this is the more likely explanation, because they don't seem to me to have kept their son as a prisoner inside the walls of their house against his will, and may have really believe that their son inhabited the doll. I think Brahms was always the one in control, not his parents, or they wouldn't had wanted to kill themselves. There are still a lot of unanswered questions that only the writer and director can answer.

It's not a scary horror movie, but it's still an entertaining thriller worth watching.