Horror Cinema: The Boy (2016)

Movie review
William Brent Bell’s The Boy

I started watching The Boy with very low expectations. With the iconic dolls of Chucky and Annabelle dominating the horror genre, I was not sure how this storyline of a possessed doll would play out another time around.

I was pleasantly surprised as The Boy unfolded with its creepy relationship between the main character and the doll, particularly those moments when the main character notices in a mirror that the doll has turned its head to watch her or when objects are seemingly moved around by the doll.

While the movie was a slow burn for the first half or so, once the identity of the doll surfaces, the action kicks into high gear until the end. One aspect of the movie that I especially liked was the strength of its storyline. The villain’s background, as it was revealed, was believable and logical—something I was definitely not expecting going into the movie. The fact that the narrative becomes believable as it unfolds makes the movie that much scarier than the Chucky and Annabelle movies where the villain is supernatural.

Bell, William Brent. The Boy, STX Films, 2016.