Uncle G’s FUN Movie Reviews: The Boy (2016)

As Seen On…Classic Rock Radio (UK)
First Published: 29 June 2016

Uncle G’s FUN Movie Reviews
Spotlight: The Boy (2016)

By: Gary “Uncle G” Brown
Twitter @GBrown0816

Released at the beginning of this year, The Boy, which I caught this past weekend on Blu-ray thanks to Netflix, kept me glued to my television screen, from start to finish. One reason is its lovely star; Lauren Cohan. Followers of the television show, The Walking Dead, will easily recognize the name, for Lauren plays Maggie Greene, a character that was introduced to the program in season two of the drama.

In the film, The Boy, she plays Greta, a young woman who leaves the States and goes to the United Kingdom to be a nanny. While doing so, escaping a relationship with a seriously controlling guy, who when angry, like many other dicks out there, becomes violent. Enough so that Greta had to have a restraining order prohibiting him from approaching or contacting her. Not that it stops him, but I’m getting ahead of myself. A lot of disturbing, and spooky shit happens up to the time we finally get to meet the horse’s ass. Once we do, it’s obvious why she left the United States (Montana) to escape him.

‘The Boy‘ is described as a ninety-eight-minute psychological horror film. Written by Stacey Delay, and directed by William Brent Bell, who was also behind the scary 2012 film on exorcisms; The Devil Inside. A movie I admit I have not seen yet, but after seeing ‘The Boy’, I looked up what other movies Mr. Bell directed, and finding that, added it to my Netflix queue. Am looking forward to seeing it. Back to ‘The Boy’, besides Lauren Cohan, it also stars Rupert Evans (Hellboy). He plays a likable sort, who delivers groceries weekly to the Heelshire estate. The rest of the cast is a rather small group. A fine job by all involved. I especially liked Jim Norton and Diana Hardcastle who portray Mr. and Mrs. Heelshire, the elderly, parents of eight-year-old Brahms, aka ‘The Boy’.

Now I mentioned Lauren Cohan’s character, being a nanny. And I mentioned the people she works for, the Heelshire’s, and their 8 year old son, Brahms. But I didn’t yet say the story takes place in the modern day, while Brahms was killed in a fire, back in 1991. So the eight year old boy, Greta finds out soon enough that Brahms, is a life-size porcelain doll, being treated by the Heelshire’s like it was a real human little boy. And before leaving Greta with the doll/boy, she’s informed Brahms is not like any normal child. Lucky for Greta, Brahms approves of her. Something he didn’t do with the rest of the nannies who applied for the job. Greta is pleasing to the eyes, whereas the others might have not been? Or maybe they just thought it ridiculous to babysit a toy, which in turn upset the young lad? And as peculiar as this all is, Greta needs the job/money. So having the approval of the Heelshire’s as well, who by the way appear quite wealthy, and pay weekly in cash, they go off on holiday, leaving Greta with Brahms, and the rather large home to themselves. The first getaway in ages for the older couple.

Photo: Lauren Cohan as Greta

As any normal person might do in this situation, for as soon as the parents of ‘The Boy’ are gone, Greta immediately concludes the doll is creepy, and covers it up with a blanket, proceeding to do more housesitting, than babysitting. Her routine is a normal one, ignoring not only Brahms but also the daily rules regarding caring for the pretend eight year old boy. Something Brahms doesn’t like, and slowly but surely makes her aware of it.

Photo: Brahms aka ‘The Boy’

Rated PG-13, ‘The Boy’ does all it can to focus on its star Lauren Cohan in various stages of undress, without having her downright showing any naughty bits. The same formula as countless horror movies before this one. We see Lauren in her panties briefly. We see Lauren in the shower. We see Lauren wearing only a towel. We see Lauren wearing a nightie that from the top half, leaves little to the imagination. And for those with foot fetishes, we see Lauren, or a stand-in, for several seconds walking barefoot across the floor. No complaints from me. Not that I’m into feet. A movie’s purpose, at least in this sense, is to entertain. Where some actresses are just eye candy, Lauren Cohan is not only a pretty lady, but she’s a skilled, talented actress as well. Her character Greta over time starts to believe the doll, is real. And that’s when things start to get really interesting.

“Uncle G” Rates … The Boy (2016)

Using the same one to a ten-star rating system that the IMDb website uses, whereas one star means it sucks, to ten stars which means it’s a cinematic masterpiece, I give the feature film ‘The Boy’, a solid … 8 stars! Watching it, I did kind of feel like I had been there and done that before. Whereas I’m older and have seen a shitload of horror movies in my life, someone younger might think differently. The movie itself was a success financially and served as a nice vehicle to show that Lauren Cohan could be a box office draw. Is just as good in my opinion as actress Jennifer Lawrence, and as I already implied, way more pleasing to the eyes. But then, I always preferred brunettes over blondes.

Official Website

http://theboymovie.tumblr.com

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