The Boy

THE BOY

Director : William Brent Bell

Year : 2016

Genre : Horror

Rating : ***1/2

Following hot on the heels of her former 'The Walking Dead' co-star Sarah Wayne Callies (star of the recent 'The Other Side Of The Door'), Lauren Cohan now takes the horror plunge with 'The Boy', a somewhat conventional but surprisingly effective chiller from 'Stay Alive' and 'The Devil Inside' director William Brent Bell. 

In the film, Cohan (better known as the plucky Maggie Greene in AMC's cult zombie smash) stars as Greta, A young American woman who, in order to escape an abusive relationship, takes on a temporary job as a nanny for a wealthy but reclusive British family. Upon arriving at the palacial ruins of the house, Greta soon comes to learn that she will not be taking care of a child - rather she will be taking care of a ceramic doll named Brahms, an immediately creepy mannequin that has taken the place of the actual son who had perished in a fire years before. 

Believing the elderly couple (played by Diana Hardcastle and 'Father Ted's Jim Norton) to be crazy but harmless, Greta agrees to take the seemingly simple job. However, upon the immediate departure of the couple and after flaunting the strict set of rules that were laid down for her, Greta soon begins to believe that the inanimate Brahms is actually alive as more and more unexplainable things begin to happen in the cavernous rooms of the mansion.

The idea of a doll or toy that miraculously comes to life to reap vengeance upon it's owner is a horror trope that is almost as old as the horror movie itself and while many filmmakers have tried, very few have actually succeeded in making a worthy film about this most hackneyed of conventions. However, while it may not reach the creepy heights of its superior thematic counterparts such as the 1945 anthology classic 'Dead Of Night' or Richard Attenborough's 1978 psychological chiller 'Magic', 'The Boy' still manages to stand out amongst the crowd thanks to fine direction from Bell, a number of effectively spooky set pieces, a terrifically dedicated central performance from Cohan and an unexpectedly intense final act that subverts every expectation of this well-worn subgenre.