REEL Review of William Bell´s THE BOY

The movie follows Greta, a nanny that has taken a job in the remote country side.  We also meet Malcolm, a delivery man.  Then we meet the Heelshire´s, an elderly couple and parents to a little boy called Brahms.  The Heelshire´s gave a long list of rules for Greta to follow.  From the rules given to follow, we get a couple of clues as to what is going on.  For example, they do not throw any extra food out, make sure to play music at a loud volume, and they do not forget to tend to the various rat traps throughout the house as Mrs. Heelshire is worried they can get into the walls.  Almost like someone is living in the walls.  Then Greta is introduced to Brahms, and it´s not a real boy.  It´s a doll!  Of course, Greta is aware that this is extremely peculiar.  She decides to make the best of it and tries to take care of the doll.   After all, there have been a plethora of previous nannies that have been rejected by Brahms.  Luckily, Brahms does approve of her and the parents feel safe with Greta being alone with Brahms when they are leaving on holiday.  Now it is just the two of them in the house with Malcolm showing up occasionally. He reveals that Brahms was a weird kid and was killed in a fire as a child.  Shortly after, the doll showed up.  We see more scenes to indicate that there is something else in the house.  For example, We see Greta in the shower and there is a low POV shot angle indicating that someone is watching her. Her dress is also taken.  Things get even more mysterious in the house. There are moving shadows seen on the wall and unexplained peanut butter and jelly sandwiches showing up at her door.  It seems to appear that this is the work of the doll.  One day, Greta gets a call from Brahms speaking in a creepy child voice telling her to follow the rules on the list.  She decides it is probably for the best that she takes care of the doll as instructed.  And after getting the doll to move on it´s own she becomes convinced that it is Brahms´s spirit trapped in the doll.  The scene changes to Brahms parents ¨holiday¨.  It shows them killing themselves to get away from Brahms.  Later Greta even gets the doll to perform the moving trick for Malcolm.  Now they both completely believe that the doll is alive.  Expectantly, Greta´s ex, Cole, shows up angry.  Greta tries to explain what is going in with the doll to Cole.  Cole is not buying it and smashes the doll´s head onto the table.  This was not a smart move and the house seems to come alive.  There are banging in the walls and eerie noises escape from all over the house.  Cole gets to the mirror and the mirror EXPLODES!  An arm comes out from where the mirror was and reveals that Brahms is not actually dead, the doll is not actually alive, and he has been living inside the walls moving doll Brahms this whole time.  Brahms stabs and kills Cole.  Then he starts chasing Greta and Malcolm throughout the house.  They find one of his passage ways hidden inside the walls that leads to his bedroom.  Greta sees her dress sprawled across human Brahms´s bed. She also finds a letter from his parents on his desk saying, ¨they will not be back and Greta is yours.¨  They start getting chased again and Brahms starts screaming, ¨I will kill you like I have killed the other!¨ This indicates that Brahms killed the other nannies that Heelshire´s hired and he rejected.  She finally faces Brahms and stabs him a few times.  Greta escapes the house with a wounded, but alive Malcolm.  The movie ends with human Brahms piecing together doll Brahms to show that he did not die.

Overall, I would give this movie a GOOD,BAD rating. As a horror movie fan, I did enjoy the film, but there were some things the movie is lacking. For example, the most important part of a horror movie is, of course, the twist. Although, the twist in this movie was way too predictable making the events happening before hand way too easy to explain. On the other hand, there were a ton of elements of mise-en-scen used during the movie that definitely amped up of HORROR aspect. For instance, the lighting key while Brahms was chasing Greta and Malcolm around the house was dark and low contrasted, making it hard to decipher where Brahms was located, striking fear in Greta and especially the audience. To conclude I enjoyed the movie, but believe the director could have done a better job telling the story.