To escape an abusive relationship, Greta (Lauren Cohan) moves from America to rural England, finding a position as a caregiver for a wealthy couple's child. Only after she is at their large manor do they reveal the quote-unquote child, Brahms, is in fact a life-sized porcelain doll, a representation of the troubled son they lost in a fire 20 years ago. Greta, left alone when the husband and wife go on holiday, is instructed to adhere to a strict routine, including feeding, playing music for, and reading stories to her charge, whom she slowly begins to suspect may be more than just a pacifying toy for her elderly and grieving employers. This is a small, but creepy, entertaining, and well-told mystery with extremely handsome production design and a sympathetic lead performance by Cohan. William Brent Bell is a poorly regarded director due to the mediocre video-game slasher Stay Alive and the godawful found-footage film The Devil Inside, but in a surprise twist, he proves rather adept at emulating the this-old-house atmosphere and slowly burning suspense of a film such as The Changeling.

B+

The twist is strongly reminiscent of the New Zealand movie Housebound. Not sure if it is a coincidence or not, but I believe both movies handle it well enough.

Housebound does, this one doesn't.

Housebound I found it lacking a connecting theme as a one-piece. This I won't see.

The Boy surprised me with it's reasonably good story and satisfying twist. It definitely performed above it's pay grade. *B*

(Bonus points for being the rare horror movie having a lead female character who didn't need rescuing by a man!)

It's not awful, but I still didn't really like it. I don't mind a slow burner as long as the build up is good, but for the most part this was just boring. The acting is fine, although none of the characters were interesting to me and the last 20 minutes were ridiculous. The twist was done much better in Housebound and honestly I'd rather watch that again than this.

This movie is kind of dumb, and feels like what we've seen before. It was creepy at points, but also very predictable. Feels like everyone put in an effort except for the screenwriter.

D

I remember watching it earlier this year and in general was a decent movie with a good atmosphere and set-up but over-the-top ending. The script wanted to try and please most of its audience by being surprising and gory at the same time but its just not well made. The relationship with "Boy" and Cohan just had more concentration on jealousy than bonding which made it looks weak overall. The acting was decent overall.

5/10