The Boy (2016)

The Boy is a 2016 American horror film directed by William Brent Bell and written by Stacey Menear. The main cast features Lauren Cohan and Rupert Evans. It is an international co-production between China and the United States. STXfilms released The Boy in the United States on January 22, 2016 and grossed $64 million worldwide on a $10 million budget. A sequel, Brahms: The Boy II, was released on February 21, 2020.

Summary
An American woman named Greta Evans travels to the United Kingdom as being hired as a nanny for the elderly Heelshires. When she arrives the house, the couple advises her to take care of their porcelain doll Brhams, as the doll was a son to them.

Why It Sucks

 * 1) The entire premise of the film is dull as it has a boring concept about a woman who has to baby sit a doll like it's a human being.
 * 2) Bad writing within the plot that includes nothing but filler.
 * 3) Every horror scene isn't scary at all and filled with a bunch of cliches that make it look fake.
 * 4) The ending is a complete cliffhanger and is quite predictable as it's unknown where Greta has left to and what happened to Malcolm.
 * 5) Mediocre acting from every character in the film, including the main cast.
 * 6) Plot Hole: Why did the Heelshires abandon their "son" and decide to together by walking through a river without a proper explanation?
 * 7) Another problem is at the last 20 minutes of film, the Heelshires's real son comes in and starts attacking everyone which is very unexpected and has no context for scene so far leaving it some questionable logic for the viewers.
 * 8) The entire pacing of the film is way too fast for a 97 minute movie.
 * 9) While the film grossed successfully in the box office, it spawned another sequel that didn't learn the mistakes from the first film and ended up being worse too.
 * 10) It focuses way too much on jump scaring rather than trying to follow the story's directions, which lead it to a poor climax.
 * 11) Absolutely boring scenes where it's nothing but just Gretta taking care of the doll which seems like nothing but a waste of time for the film.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) The concept of the entire film would've been better if it took a different approach.
 * 2) The settings and backgrounds of the movie are quite nice looking.
 * 3) Great cinematography from Daniel Pearl.
 * 4) The first parts of the movie were pretty decent.

Reception
The Boy was met with very negative reviews from both critics and audiences alike with a score of 29% on Rotten Tomatoes.