2020 October Horror Challenge #64: "The Boy"

 

Did I mention that dolls freak me out? My mom gave me these porcelain dolls when I was a kid, and they creeped me out with their pale faces, their little teeth, and their hair that looked all too real. Because I already think dolls are freaky, if a horror movie involves dolls, I know it's going to freak me out,  so I wanted to see this movie as soon as I heard about it. Since today is a day of seeing movies I've been meaning to check out, I decided to give this one a watch today as well. Permanent psychological damage,  here I come!

In this movie,  a young woman named Greta takes a job as a nanny for an elderly couple who live in a secluded mansion. When she gets to the job, she finds out that instead of a little boy, the couple has a lifelike doll that they treat as though he were a real little boy. They have a list of complicated rules she has to follow to care for their "son" when they leave to go on vacation. At first she ignores the rules, but after a bunch of strange happenings, she comes to believe that the doll is alive.

The movie is dark and rainy, and I swear I felt a chill just watching it. Good power of suggestion, movie. The doll is creepy looking, but I think every doll is creepy looking.  His big, staring eyes really seem to be looking at me through the screen. The second act, where Greta starts to believe that Brahams (the doll) is really alive and starts treating him like a little boy, is probably the best part of the movie. It's odd, but the acting Greta does and the creepiness of the doll make it work.

Unfortunately,  all good things must come to an end, and once the movie decides to throw a big twist at us, everything falls apart. It's hard to make a chase scene inside the walls of a house boring, but this movie manages to do so. I think I lost all respect for the movie after the twist played out, so I was unimpressed with anything it did after that. It's a shame, too, because this movie could have been really good. I feel like it took the lazy way out, and ruined a good premise. Definitely a disappointment.