If you've not seen the original, I'd recommend catching it before watching Brahms: The Boy II. A lot of reviews indicate there is little carried over from the original, but in fact there's quite a lot. Also remember most of the critics hated the original as well, a fact I've never been able to reconcile.
The original worked so well because, unlike most thrillers in this horror subgenre, most notably "Annabella", The Boy plays out on a more psychological level of horror and pure mystery. It also helped that Lauren Cohan's performance was good enough to stretch believability when Greta, the heroine she played, fell under the doll's spell herself. To have her on the run from an abusive relationship was a subplot that worked to the original's advantage, spiking the tension and the stakes for all involved.
With The Boy II, we have another good structural, psychological subplot and a another above-par actress, Katie Holmes, without whom, quite frankly, I don't think this picture would be worth a watch. Holmes has been known to elevate shaky material in the past ("Abandon" most notably) and she doesn't do the celebrity-walk-on here --- she's committed to portraying a damaged character, this time the victim of a brutal home invasion, which adds a creepy weighty touch of brutality and danger to a film that's lightweight by virtue of genre alone.
In this sequel, the doll effects are subtler and perhaps more creepy because of it. The big problem with Boy II is that, unlike the original, it relies on demonic possession --- whereas the original explained everything away in non-supernatural terms, increasing the horror and power of the story considerably.
If you're looking for a movie with the scare factor of Child's Play, neither Boy movie measure up.... they're simply on another, less visceral creep-out plane.
There are good performances by Christopher Convery, as Jude, who smartly underplays the bad seed role convincingly, and the always fine Ralph Ineson.
It's in the last third of the film where Brahms "history" is unearthed that things go awry and the SFX team goes into full-tilt overload trying to impress each other and things go downhill fast. I was hoping for a suitably non-happy ominous ending --- what we get is yet another predictable pasted on excuse for another sequel --- that tied back to the home invasion in some way, but it's probably too much to expect.
I have a hunch that, as the writer and director are the same as in the original (never a bad thing) that this ending was forced on the filmmakers. iTunes has a director's cut and an alternative ending (that I have yet to explore) if you purchase the movie. I wouldn't recommend that unless you're a fan of the original, but it will be interesting to see if the vision of the creators of The Boy produced something a bit more satisfying than what we've gotten in the theatrical cut.
The original worked so well because, unlike most thrillers in this horror subgenre, most notably "Annabella", The Boy plays out on a more psychological level of horror and pure mystery. It also helped that Lauren Cohan's performance was good enough to stretch believability when Greta, the heroine she played, fell under the doll's spell herself. To have her on the run from an abusive relationship was a subplot that worked to the original's advantage, spiking the tension and the stakes for all involved.
With The Boy II, we have another good structural, psychological subplot and a another above-par actress, Katie Holmes, without whom, quite frankly, I don't think this picture would be worth a watch. Holmes has been known to elevate shaky material in the past ("Abandon" most notably) and she doesn't do the celebrity-walk-on here --- she's committed to portraying a damaged character, this time the victim of a brutal home invasion, which adds a creepy weighty touch of brutality and danger to a film that's lightweight by virtue of genre alone.
In this sequel, the doll effects are subtler and perhaps more creepy because of it. The big problem with Boy II is that, unlike the original, it relies on demonic possession --- whereas the original explained everything away in non-supernatural terms, increasing the horror and power of the story considerably.
If you're looking for a movie with the scare factor of Child's Play, neither Boy movie measure up.... they're simply on another, less visceral creep-out plane.
There are good performances by Christopher Convery, as Jude, who smartly underplays the bad seed role convincingly, and the always fine Ralph Ineson.
It's in the last third of the film where Brahms "history" is unearthed that things go awry and the SFX team goes into full-tilt overload trying to impress each other and things go downhill fast. I was hoping for a suitably non-happy ominous ending --- what we get is yet another predictable pasted on excuse for another sequel --- that tied back to the home invasion in some way, but it's probably too much to expect.
I have a hunch that, as the writer and director are the same as in the original (never a bad thing) that this ending was forced on the filmmakers. iTunes has a director's cut and an alternative ending (that I have yet to explore) if you purchase the movie. I wouldn't recommend that unless you're a fan of the original, but it will be interesting to see if the vision of the creators of The Boy produced something a bit more satisfying than what we've gotten in the theatrical cut.