Brahms: Boneco do Mal II

Brahms: The Boy II is a 2020 American supernatural horror film starring Katie Holmes, Ralph Ineson, Owain Yeoman, and Christopher Convery. A stand-alone sequel to the 2016 film The Boy, it is directed by William Brent Bell and written by Stacey Menear, the respective director and writer of the original film. The plot follows a young boy who, after moving into a mansion with his parents following a traumatizing incident, finds a life-like doll he becomes attached to.

I was looking forward to watching this film, the original was a pleasant surprise for me and a film I have rewatched several times since it's release. This film would've benefitted more from a little better direction - the film follows Liza (Katie Holmes) trying to rebuild her life after a violent burglary took place whilst she was home with her son. Who, now traumatised by the ordeal only speaks with a notepad.

The film relies too much on dream sequences and jump scares and not enough on genuine frighting moments, which are much more effective. I felt the film for the most part was more about the family dynamic of the two parents and the son, with horror moments placed in between without much effort.

As the film begins it's third act, some revelations are revealed that, as other users have mentioned, tarnish the original films ending and make you question what the filmmakers were thinking. The films strong points in my opinion are the performances of the three leads, who are clearly giving their all despite what they are working with. Katie Holmes is great in the lead role and I've always wished she was in more films and the actor playing her son is also rather good. The film as a whole though is disappointing.

5/10

Brahms: The Boy II takes forward the story of the creepy porcelain doll, seen in The Boy(2016). Liza(Katie Holmes), her husband Sean(Owain Yeoman) & their son Jude(Christopher Convery), move into a house next to the Heelshire Mansion. Jude befriends a porcelain yet realistic looking doll, called Brahms.

Brahms: The Boy II is a below average film. It totally disregards everything that made The Boy(2016) a memorable horror/thriller movie. Returning director William Brent Bell should not have made this film, in the first place. If it was studio pressure, they should have only made this movie, if the script was as unique as its predecessor. Katie Holmes is great as Liza. Owain Yeoman is brilliant as Sean. Christopher Convery is a complete letdown, as Jude. Ralph Ineson is effective as Joseph. Brahms: The Boy II is not at all worth watching. Give this complete disappointment a miss, and re-watch the first one instead.

Hopefully you read/hummed this review's subject title in the exact same way as you would sing the lyrics to The Beatles' classic song "Hey Jude". Just checking...

I rather dug "The Boy", William Brent Bell's first film from 2016. It had a fairly original concept, and made good use of the constantly sinister atmosphere and a couple of effectively unsettling moments. A sequel was inevitable, and although overall very watchable and adequately made, "The Boy II" is the most stereotypical, by-the-numbers and clichéd sequel there can be.

Katie Holmes (since many years in desperate need of a career reboot) depicts a mom who, together with her son, went through a traumatizing home-jacking experience. Since then, mommy suffers from anxiety and nightmares, while her 8-year-old son Jude stopped talking altogether. In an attempt to process the events, the family moves to a vacationing house in the countryside. At the estate surrounding an old gothic mansion, Jude finds an antique porcelain doll buried in the ground. What initially looks like an efficient auxiliary to help Jude communicate again, quickly turns into an even bigger nightmare because Brahms the doll takes full possession of the emotionally vulnerable child.

Every dreadful cliché you can think of features here: disturbing children's drawings, disappearing dogs, supposedly lifeless dolls turning their heads or disappearing in the blink of an eye, bullying teens getting what they deserve, etc... To make things even worse, "The Boy II" is entirely without blood, violence or casualties. A few fake scares and Katie Holmes' terrified grimaces are not enough to make a horror film.

After a burglary in their house in London, Liza (Katie Holmes) and her son Jude (Christopher Convery) are traumatized: Lisa becomes frigid with her husband Sean (Owain Yeoman) and Jude a speechless boy. Liza and Sean decide to rekindle their lives moving to a house in the countryside nearby the Heelshire Mansion and Jude's psychiatrist Dr. Lawrence (Anjali Jay) agrees that it would be benefit for him. While walking through the woods with Liza, Jude finds a buried porcelain doll and decides to keep it. Then they meet the groundkeeper Joseph (Ralph Ineson) and his dog Oz that walks with Liza and Jude home. Jude becomes obsessed for the doll that he calls Brahms and shows rules to be followed by the family that Brahms told him. Further, he changes his behavior and weird things happen in the house.

"The Boy" (2016) is a surprisingly good horror film. The sequel "Brahms: The Boy II" (2020) is inferior to the original film but is a decent horror movie that uses many clichés, but startles in many scenes and entertains. The performances are good, the atmosphere is creepy, and the screenplay is acceptable. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Brahms: Boneco do Mal II" ("Brahms: Evil Doll II")

This is a sequel to The Boy, which i really liked. But the premise of this movie straight poops all over everything good about the original. It makes no sense why they would go in this direction.

But i'm a reasonable person, so i decided to just go with it and watch it as a new movie with a new premise. Unfortunately it keeps tying into the original, in worse and worse ways. It gets dumber and dumber. And by the end, it COMPLETELY changes everything we know and like about the original. Why? Please why?

On top of all of that... this movie just sucks. It's not scary. And it's so basic in every way imaginable. Every common horror trope you can think of, and not even done well. (1 viewing, 4/10/2021)