Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Review of THE BOY: Porcelain Poltergeist

February 23, 2016





There was a little horror movie with no big stars that debuted in local theaters last January 27. I did not have the opportunity to watch it back then, and did not think much about missing it. However, three weeks later, "The Boy" is still showing in theaters while the higher profile movie it opened with had already been pulled out. Since it was the only film starting when I got to the mall, I chose to watch it and see what was behind its staying power during a time when a most small films usually only had a single week to prove itself.

A young American woman Greta accepts a job as a nanny for a well-to-do elderly British couple, the Heelshires. However, she was surprised to discover that the boy Brahms whom she had been hired to nanny for was actually a porcelain doll. He was curiously being treated like a real child, even with a list of rules Greta had to follow.  One day, Mr. and Mrs. Heelshire go away for a long trip, leaving Greta and Brahms alone in the old mansion.  From then on, Greta's amusement with her "easy" job slowly turned into fear as strange, creepy things begin happening to her, seemingly caused by the inanimate Brahms.

The success of this movie really fell on the shoulders of its lead actress Lauren Cohan. As Greta, she had to emote mostly by herself as supernatural events were happening around her. Of course, she will do all the typical things horror movie heroines get to do -- like taking a languid shower, going to check up on a noise in the attic, go outdoors in the dark, etc... However, she generally did not come across as annoying, as most others do. Cohan had enough class not to appear stupid when Greta started to take Brahms' rules seriously. I guess Ms. Cohan had a lot of practice dealing with monsters as Maggie on the hit TV series "The Walking Dead."

The rest of the supporting cast basically play one-dimensional characters around Greta. Rupert Evans played Malcolm, the guy who delivered groceries to the mansion who inevitably falls in love in Greta (but of course!). Jim Norton and Diana Hardcastle played the creepy Mr. and Mrs. Heelshire with much heart. Ben Robson played Greta's brutish partner Cole, whose abuse drove her to seek this job far away from home.

This is the fourth horror film in a row for director William Brent Bell, the first one he did not write himself. Of his three previous films, B-grade all, I had only seen "The Devil Inside" (my review HERE), a film which most critics hated. "The Boy" was an out-of-the-box script written by Stacey Menear on which Bell applied his B-horror film expertise, coming up with something so crazy yet strangely entertaining in its own way. That sick ending was certainly twisted in more ways than one. 6/10.


23 comments:

  1. seems like a good movie for me.. i think i'll be watching it when i have time

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  2. I am not interested in this movie at all! Lol. Because it's a Horror film and it terrifies me. It's quite interesting, but I can never watch it b myself.

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  3. I want to watch this! I felt super excited as I saw the movie trailer. The ending twist should be a big reason why we should watch it.

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  4. It's a nice plot. I find it interesting even though I am not a fan of horror movies. I think I'll content myself with your review. :-)

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  5. The trailer really got me but I guess you can't really expect the movie to be as captivating as their trailers make them out to be :D

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  6. I am also curious about this movie. It looks like the male version of Annabelle.

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  7. Ack, scary! I'm not into horror movies. My cousin would enjoy this one though.

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  8. This looks freaking scary movie and I am not a horror movie lover at all.

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  9. Haha! I am in no way a fan of horror films, but this one seems bearable. Will ask my bf to watch it with me this weekend. :P how intriguing what kind of rules the nanny had to follow..

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  10. I have actually been debating whether or not to go and see The Boy. It's still showing in theatres here but I think I'll pass and wait until it's on Netflix.

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  11. I saw the trailer for this one and it does look scary. It would definitely be a good way to get that heartbeat pumping faster on the intense moments.

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  12. Oh! The storyline is quite creepy. I will be very scared to watch this alone. Only in big groups, I can go and watch such movies

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  13. Oops, High chance I will not review this given your low points... Haha...

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  14. It's so hard to find a good horror movie these days. Your review has peaked my interest so I'm going to watch this one. Thans!

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  15. Hey Fred, thanks for sharing. Definitely sounds like something that will give you the chills. I'm not much into horror but I will watch one if it's worth it.

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  16. The boy is a toy :O.Spooky!The plot of the story sounds very interesting. I will Surely watch it.

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  17. Now that's very interesting... Sadly I can't watch this movie. The story line is very very captivating....

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  18. OMG why this few weeks there are so many horror movies in the cinema. I usually don't watch horror or ghost movie because I might have nightmare after I watch it.

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  19. I watched this movie and the outcome of it wasn't expected lol, twisted plot indeed but makes me wonder who fixed the doll in the end when barns was already stabbed and assumed dead.

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  20. It seems unique I should be putting this on my list of must-watch.

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  21. Definitely not a movie for me. Just by the poster, it look so terrifying already!

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  22. This is I think a nice movie to watch with your barkada or with families. I've read all the reviews about this movie and all are positive reviews.

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  23. It sounds like a nice movie to watch - for those passionate about the genre, of course. The scrips sounds interesting so I'd look it up in cinemas:)

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