This contains spoilers for both films
The Boy (2016)
The Boy was a mediocre film, but it did have some good moments. For one, the main character's shift from denial and fear to full-on hysterics and fully embracing that this doll was seemingly alive was a very powerful scene that really highlighted how much of a toll it took on her.
The reveal at the end- That the doll was not actually alive and the Brahms who was presumed dead had actually just been living in the walls, Bruno Madrigal style, was also a highlight. The way he still talks in a child's voice despite being almost thirty, and mindlessly kills everyone in sight except for Greta (as he'd grown attached to her), is one of the better examples I've seen of the "Turns out it WASN'T paranormal after all!" trope I've seen- Especially since that's usually a pretty boring plot twist. The horror comes from the fact that, no, the doll wasn't alive. It's just
a guy.That's of course not to say that the first movie is perfect, or even a film I would really recommend. While yes, the stuff with the doll is creepy, the premise is interesting enough (the family's kid died so they treat a doll like said kid to cope), and the plot twist was both surprising and well-foreshadowed, the movie is also full of a lot of silly moments, parts where you question the characters' intelligence in a rather frustrating manner (example : Greta gets locked in the attic and instead of leaving through the multiple openings on the wall, she tries to break open this metal-gate thing and then just resigns to being stuck up there when that doesn't work), boring characters, and just overall an air of mediocrity, but not enough to where I could even label it as "so bad it's good"
Overall, "The Boy" is a movie I would give a solid 5/10 stars- It has moments of effective writing and good horror but, in the end, it's pretty mediocre.
Brahms: The Boy II (2020)
So, how does one follow up the story of the first film? Going into it and reading the premise (a child finds the doll and becomes friends with it), I had a few ideas- We technically didn't get confirmation in the first movie that Brahms (wall man) actually died, so maybe he's back. Maybe he'll be predatory towards the child or, more interestingly, grow an attachment to him himself.
So, what did they do?
Well, remember all that lore and ish they put into the first movie? You know, how the whole thing was that Brahms was just
a guy and the doll was just a normal doll? Well, what if we
threw all of that in the trash and instead made this doll a generational horror that continuously corrupts children into being murderers?
No, I'm not joking. They even try to say that the doll (which also just conveniently happens to be named Brahms) is what corrupted Human Brahms in the first movie when he was a kid, even though it was established in the first film that the doll only showed up
after he had "died", so why is there a newspaper clipping of him with the doll as a kid? Not to mention the fact that they break the doll's head open in the first film and it just shatters, but when they do the same thing in the second film, it reveals this hideous, butthole-esque demon face underneath.
So, okay. As a sequel, it's horrible. It completely ignores the entire first movie to make a whole new lore for the doll- A lore which is honestly far less creative than what they did in the first film. But, I am always one for judging sequels on their own merits as well because sometimes sequels get a bad rep because they are
only critiqued as sequels. So, how does it stand on it's own?
Not well, that's for sure.
Nearly all of the characters are outright insufferable or just boring. The movie disappointedly falls into what I like to call the "Slappy the Dummy Trope" where a kid gets a doll, the doll does bad ish, the kid says the doll did it, and no one believes the kids so the kid just gets in trouble over and over again- A very tired plotline that I would really like to see a creepy doll movie
not do every time it has a child as the main character. There's also even
sillier moments, including a part towards the end where this roughly 10-year-old kid is wearing the doll mask from the first film and holding a giant ass rifle towards his mom because Brahms (the doll) told him to, and they expect you as the audience to look at that and take it fully seriously.
Overall, this movie would get a solid 2/10 from me, the only points towards it being decent child acting (a rarity, especially in horror), a good-looking set, and a bit of ironic enjoyment. If anything, I actually
would recommend watching this one because it kind of
is so bad it's good- Just maybe either hold off on watching the first movie beforehand or don't think about the fact that it's supposed to be a sequel.
