[Review] Brahms: The Boy ll(2020) {5/10}

Directed by William Brent Bell from a screenplay by Stacey Menear, the film stars Katie Holmes (Liza), Owain Yeoman (Sean), Christopher Convery (Jude) and Ralph Ineson (Joseph).

The plot follows a mother, Liza (Katie Holmes) who is attacked by burglars in front of her young son, Jude (Christopher Convery). The traumatic event causes Jude to stop speaking. So his father, Sean (Owain Yeoman), decides to move the family to the country to recuperate. They find a beautiful little house (the former guest house of the mansion where the events of The Boy took place) and settle in. Walking in the woods, Jude finds a doll buried in the dirt and digs it up. Jude and the doll, who's called Brahms, become inseparable. Jude announces that there are certain rules to be followed surrounding Brahms, and strange things start happening. Liza must find out what's really going on before the worst happens.

The film drags on without any significant plot developments, and although we get to see the effect Brahms has on Jude, it isn’t captivating enough. Other than one sequence involving bullying, the film trudges on as it heads to the third act, especially the climax, which only raises more questions in a frustrating manner. The entire setup goes to waste by this point because director William Brent Bell is tasked with a perplexing script by writer Stacey Menear. The writer also worked on the first film and oddly, chooses to flip its narrative. Filled with lifeless characters, basic jump scares, and very little else, this useless horror sequel betrays whatever good ideas the 2016 original had in a poor attempt to create a monster franchise. While The Boy actually told a pretty good, moody story, Brahms: The Boy II ignores it. In other words, this is yet another movie that feels more like a cash-in than a story yearning to be told. And despite some atmospheric cinematography, the movie gets off to a very rough start, with mechanical characters that not even admirable attempts at acting can bring to life. It fails to build any sense of dread or give viewers the creeps. The only scares are groaningly typical, including sudden movements in a mirror, sudden "bang!"s on the soundtrack, and the doll opening its mouth really wide while creepy-crawly things fly out of it. Besides some jump scares and the sporadic unsettling visuals, you won’t get much bang for your buck as a horror fan.

Brahms: The Boy II is now available on Digital and Blu-ray.