MikeWright75
I'm a fan of creepy doll movies but only when they're done well. And done well creepy doll movies are pretty thin on the ground. The Boy gets it right at deeper psychological levels because even though you know from the get go that being employed as a nanny to a life sized boy doll would have most women running for the hills, there's something tragic and poignant about the elderly couple who dote so lovingly over the angelic looking porcelain "Brahms" The newly employed Greta has her own problems, having lost a baby herself, so after the initial scorn of pandering to Brahm's every whim,, and when seemingly supernatural happenings occur around the doll, she strikes up a Freudian rapport with her charge and starts to really care for it. Now, this is what I have a real problem with as Greta is a fairly well balanced, strong female escaping to England to get away from her nasty violent ex boyfriend. There's not enough emotional damage in this character to warrant her connection with the doll. She's not needy enough, or fragile enough. The real show stopper is when the real Brahms, the adult Brahms, reveals himself by oozing out of a mirror in one of the creepiest reveals in movies. I didn't see it coming.The real Brahams might have been better portrayed as a podgy, flabby mewling adult baby with pallid skin and bald as a mushroom. Instead we have a tall, slim, hairy chested hottie who, in spite of the dirty vest, doll mask and Rigsby cardy, has already set the internet alight with blogs about his sex appeal. Whether this is intentional or not on the part of the director, I don't know. But I guess it makes the character all the more fascinating and it would have been interesting for him to have had more screen time and more in depth scrutiny of his psychology. Instead, the end of the movie falls into the generic slasher comes a cropper but doesn't die category, leaving it wide open to a sequel that probably won't happen. And that's a shame because had there been more to the murderous Brahms than his psycho temper this might have been possible.It would have had more impact if the script had revolved more around the psychologically damaged element of Greta and Brahms. A kind of twisted love story that worked so well in the 1960's movie, The Haunting. Instead the final denouement is a bog standard plot device.A good movie though and decent performances from the leads. James Russell has the difficult job of portraying Brahms, with most of the acting in the eyes. If you watch closely he doesn't blink once, but still manages to exude a child like vulnerability even at his most murderous.
Kenyae Kofi
This movie was very slow and boring. I thought the concept was pretty insane with the story and everything. However, this movie did get very weird and uncomfortable very fast. There were a lot of missing elements to this story and unexplained scenarios This movie had a nice creepy ending with the boy still being alive and repairing the doll. I really think this movie could have been even crazier if there was more gory scenes and we saw more of a creepy killer kid effect. But the fact that the girl had to kiss this doll to distract was kind of weird and ridiculous. Anyway, 5 out of 10
jacksoncristy
I read the good and bad reviews. I didn't Watch the movie when it was first released becausr, to be honest, in the horror genre, dolls are something that always creep me out. It probably has to do with the folktales of them housing souls. But, I decided, well, I'm going to "man up" and watch this. I'm glad I did. I spent most of the movie trying to decide if I thought **spoilers ahead** Greta was suffering from PTSD, was mentally unstable or if Cole had found out where she was and was doing all of it. **End Spoilers**
My preconceived notions were challenged and by the end of the movie, I had jumped a few times and felt that general mild-adrenaline and kind of icky after-feeling that I think is indicative of a good horror flick. It's worth the hour and 37 minutes of time invested in it.
