It feels a little weird seeing a horror film in February. It would also seem that seeing The Boy at 10pm on a Thursday night provides one an empty theater. Still, for someone that has yet to be scared (jump scares don’t count) from a horror film, The Boy left me conflicted. There is a big twist in The Boy, and while this twist is actually well executed and fun, it’s also the films greatest weakness.
The Boy is the story of a boy (shocker!) whose family hires a nanny to come take care of him while they leave on an extended vacation. All seems well and good until we realize that this boy is no ordinary boy – he is in fact a porcelain doll. The doll itself is as creepy as they come and we are let in on the fact that the family’s son died in a fire at a very young age. In their struggle to cope, the family seems to think this doll is, in fact, their son. It’s as weird as it sounds, but the story does try to make sense of it from a psychological perspective. Or it does until the leave on vacation with a bit of foreshadowing from mommy dearest.
The scares in the film come from the fact that the movie tries very hard to make us believe that this doll is in fact alive; or at the very least, possessed by the spirit of the boy. The bulk of the film sees the new nanny Greta (Lauren Cohan) and her attempts to deal with the situation. As her time the house progresses, all sorts of weird sounds and creepy things start happening in the house. Nothing that really scares the audience, so a great deal of this film feels like wasted film reel. The doll seems to move about at will, but we never actually get to see this happen or is it’s all in Greta’s head. She was left a set of rules to follow, and the less she sticks to them, because it’s just a weird doll, the more frightening things become. Although she is never really in any danger. It’s more just spooky things.
Once she reaches her breaking point, she’s snaps and begins following the rules and connecting with the doll, and the spirit within. There isn’t anything scary that happens up to this point, aside from three jump scares that you can see from a mile away. The odd thing with these scares is that each one ends exactly the same way, with Greta waking up in a sweat in a different outfit. I understand that jump scares are really easy, but it felt extremely lazy when they recycle the same scare three times. The Boy sets a good mood, but so much of the film is just so empty of, well, anything.
Production wise, the doll itself is really well done, but most porcelain dolls are pretty scary on their own. The house is quite large and spooky, but Greta never really explores too deep and tends to stick to only a few main rooms, at least until the very end. Once she becomes friends with the doll and begins caring for it like a real child, the film starts to get a little off the rails. The film plays the doll as being a real spirit, even showing its spooky teleporting skills to Greta’s friend, and the only other main character in the film. It’s so idiotic that once both of these people understand that something really messed up is going on, and that there is a “presence” in the house, they both just walk around and never once think to just bail.
Sure, the film spins this as Greta having a connection with the boy, as she herself lost a child to domestic violence while she was pregnant, but it still feels really weird. Even weirder, and quite maddening, was that right after Greta talks of her lost child (of which happened recently) her friend goes in for the kiss, and they move to having sex, with said boy in the next room. He, of course, does not approve and does more spooky things. During this time the scares are non-existent, and the only monkey wrench comes about when Greta’s ex finds her. This is just a ridiculous premise, as Greta is from Montana and her job is at a home somewhere in the deep woods of the English countryside. I understand crazy people, but it’s really hard to believe that he just shows up. It’s a forced plot point, but without it the film meanders into nothingness.
—SPOILER ALERT—
So, now that the film has built a connection between Greta and this boy spirit, she asks for its help in ridding the house of her abusive ex. This goes as well as expected for a porcelain doll, and Greta’s ex manages to smash the doll into a million pieces. The house starts losing its shit and we get the big twist of the film. You see, the boy never actually died in that fire, instead being badly scared has since been locked away within the walls of the house, because… reasons? Sure, it’s a cool twist, but the rest of the movie quickly turns into a generic ’80s slasher film, with the now-adult real boy having Jason Voorhees-like strength going on a rampage. Greta and her friend are get away after killing the man/boy, who just happens to wear a porcelain mask covering his burns, but we pan back to see someone rebuilding the broken doll.
The Boy had a lot of potential, but ultimately ends up wasting most of it and feeling really silly. Instead of actually playing up the spirit angle, or leaving things ambiguous, thus building fear in our minds, it throws the twist in your face and in turn minimizes the past 50 minutes and changes the entire film from being a psychological horror film, and into a standard slasher film. The Boy was an enjoyable mystery up until the fear that was building from not knowing was taken away from the audience. Throw in smart characters that turn into complete idiots because the plot demands it, serious stretches of mindless padding, and we are left with a movie that is all twist and little substance.
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