An American nanny is shocked that her new English family's boy is actually a life-sized doll. After she violates a list of strict rules, disturbing events make her believe that the doll is really alive.
Greta, a young American woman, takes a job as a nanny in a remote English village and discovers that the family's 8-year-old is a life-sized doll that the parents care for just like a real boy as a way to cope with the death of their actual son 20 years ago. When she violates a list of strict rules, her worst nightmare is brought to life by a series of disturbing, inexplicable events and she comes to believe that the doll is alive.Written by
STX Entertainment
Cast members actually used the doll ("Brahms") to prank each other on the set. On one occasion, one of the cast members propped the doll up outside of the other actor's bathroom in their trailer to scare them. Upon seeing this, they hurled the doll outside of their trailer and the crew had to repair it and make a replacement doll. See more »
Goofs
The telephone in the house makes the USA dead tone (blips) rather than the UK dead tone (a continuous tone). See more »
Quotes
Malcolm:
Okay, I see that you're... a writer from... Phoenix, Montana. You've come here to be inspired by the English countryside and to get away from the hustle and bustle of your life in the U.S. of A.
Greta Evans:
No.
Malcolm:
Close?
Greta Evans:
Um... not at all. No.
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American nanny Greta Evans (Lauren Cohan) takes a job in Britain so that she can escape an abusive boyfriend but soon after accepting the job she realizing this isn't your typical babysitter position. Instead of taking care of a real child she is paid to look after a life-like doll and pretty soon she begins to think that it's actually alive.
I must admit that I'm a little surprised that THE BOY has gotten so many positive reviews because I found it to be rather lame in most spots. I think there's a great movie here but sadly it is buried behind a bunch of cheap and rather annoying jump scares that are never actually scary.
There are moments in the film where it actually works and this is when there's more of a psychological nature where we really don't know if the doll is alive or if perhaps the nanny is just losing her mind. I couldn't help but think how much better this aspect would have been but THE BOY is a PG-13 rated horror film meant to shock and scare teenagers so obviously they need jump scares. As I said, none of the scares are every scary and it should come as no shock that the majority of them are silly dream sequences.
Another problem with this film is that there's really not enough atmosphere to make anything else all that creepy. The film basically takes elements of CHILD'S PLAY, ANNABELLE, THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS and BAD RONALD and puts it into a blender. The only problem is that it's just not all that good. I thought Cohan and Rupert Evans were good in their roles but this can't save the picture.
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The Boy (2016)
* 1/2 (out of 4)
American nanny Greta Evans (Lauren Cohan) takes a job in Britain so that she can escape an abusive boyfriend but soon after accepting the job she realizing this isn't your typical babysitter position. Instead of taking care of a real child she is paid to look after a life-like doll and pretty soon she begins to think that it's actually alive.
I must admit that I'm a little surprised that THE BOY has gotten so many positive reviews because I found it to be rather lame in most spots. I think there's a great movie here but sadly it is buried behind a bunch of cheap and rather annoying jump scares that are never actually scary.
There are moments in the film where it actually works and this is when there's more of a psychological nature where we really don't know if the doll is alive or if perhaps the nanny is just losing her mind. I couldn't help but think how much better this aspect would have been but THE BOY is a PG-13 rated horror film meant to shock and scare teenagers so obviously they need jump scares. As I said, none of the scares are every scary and it should come as no shock that the majority of them are silly dream sequences.
Another problem with this film is that there's really not enough atmosphere to make anything else all that creepy. The film basically takes elements of CHILD'S PLAY, ANNABELLE, THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS and BAD RONALD and puts it into a blender. The only problem is that it's just not all that good. I thought Cohan and Rupert Evans were good in their roles but this can't save the picture.