Director William Brent Bell
Genre Horror | Thriller
Cast Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans, Diana Hardcastle, Jim Norton
Rating PG-13
Release Date January 22nd, 2016
“An American nanny is shocked that her new English family’s boy is actually a life-sized doll. After violating a list of strict rules, disturbing events make her believe that the doll is really alive.”
The Boy is directed by William Brent Bell who is also responsible for the 2012 film The Devil Inside (I doubt he is proud of that). Lauren Cohan took a break from her role as Maggie in the hit AMC series The Walking Dead to take on the lead role and as an actress she cannot seem to break free from uncomfortable living arrangements. As a fan of The Walking Dead I will be the first to admit that it was nice to see her actually shower and put on some clean clothes for once.
The Boy is a unique film in the sense that it almost makes you second guess how you actually feel about the direction of the film. Many horror films, like the first Insidious film for example, start off with plenty of promise and take a ridiculous detour which makes it clear the writers botched an opportunity for a legitimately scary film. There is nothing worse than getting the audience built up to something extremely creepy only to throw it away for no good reason. To me The Boy is in a lot of ways the outlier when it comes to horror movies mainly because it goes right with most movies go left. Once again I'm having a hard time deciding exactly how I feel about the dare to be different approach but I will say the writers deserve some credit for originality and some much needed imagination.
The Boy has a creative premise and delivers solid acting performances (the boys mother is super creepy) but unfortunately it does suffer from some pacing issues, lulling the audience to sleep at times. But don’t worry, with a runtime just over an hour and a half you should be able to stay awake and you will be happy you did. I feel like The Boy is going to inevitably receive mixed reactions but that is to be expected from the horror genre, particularly films that include creepy dolls and demonic possession. I am actually looking forward to discussing it with people, just to get a feel for other viewpoints. The important thing is that The Boy was entertaining, thought provoking, and not quite what you would expect and the conclusion of the film will take you by surprise. It also leaves the viewer with an uneasy feeling which in my opinion is how you should always leave the theater after watching a horror movie. Recommended.
