The Boy

July 8, 2017 - Looks can be deceiving, as the trailer for this 2016 horror movie proved. It turned out to be not nearly as interesting as it looked. Lauren Cohan (The Walking Dead and The Vampire Diaries) stars, along with Rupert Evans and James Russell.

Cohan is Greta, an American who's agreed to go to England to be a nanny for a boy who lives in a big house in the middle of nowhere. I gather the interview process was very informal. When Greta arrives, she is surprised to find out that the boy named Brahms is really a doll. But, the gig is only for a few months and Brahms comes with instructions, so Greta decides to stay.

Soon enough, she's blowing off Brahms to flirt with the handsome delivery guy. That changes, however, when enough weird things happen that Greta decides maybe she should be following the instructions after all. So, Greta reads to Brahms, prepares food for him, plays music for him, and kisses him good night. And that's when things start to go really wrong.

Overall review: ** The Boy starts with an interesting premise, but Greta is not interesting enough to make me care if she lives or dies. There's nothing special about her, and she falls into the horror movie stereotype of consciously doing things that she shouldn't be doing. And, despite its interesting start, the movie itself ultimately falls into this same trap.