The Boy : La Malédiction de Brahms

I don't see many horror films, but I know a bad one when I see it. In what is most definitely one of the more unnecessary sequels Hollywood has ever attempted, The Boy II is unoriginal, bland, and just plain dumb. Sure it will have you jumping a few times here and there, but you never truly feel any sort of danger for the lead characters. And even if you did, it's not like the film made you care about them anyway. Especially after now seeing The Invisible Man, this is not how you should spend your time at the theater.

3.5/10

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.

Not to spoil it for you, but the first film made only a modest profit, and that is because it had a very low budget. That first film makes the events in this film impossible. So it looks like this is just a reboot attempt since Brahms is a very spooky looking doll and could probably sell horror movie tickets if the theme is franchised, except, to tell you the truth, this film is a bit of a bore.

The backstory is that there is a burglary that somehow traumatizes the young son in the family, although the details of this trauma are never told. So the family goes out to the country to regroup. The young son, who has simply stopped talking due to the burglary/assault, digs up the porcelain doll Brahms. He begins to bond with Brahms, as his parents sulk around the house, I guess feeling bad that they could not protect their son? So they let things go since at least the son is showing interest in something, but things get weird. Oh, and all you see of the burglar in the short scene dedicated to the incident is a shadow that makes it appear that the perpetrator was Popeye the Sailor.

There are some dream sequences that go nowhere as far as the story goes because it seems that there is not enough story here to flesh out a feature film length production. I would say don't waste the price of a movie ticket on this one. Instead, just stream it when it becomes available.

I gave this one 4/10 points because the atmosphere, cinematography, and acting are all very good. It's just too bad that the plot is boring and aimless.