Review | Brahms: The Boy II film review – scary movie? Not really, this creepy doll horror sequel is all build-ups and no pay-offs
- Katie Holmes does her best and puts in a decent performance, but it’s not enough to save Brahms: The Boy II
- Most of the budget seem to have gone on Holmes’ salary, as this may have the least special effects of any horror film ever made
1.5/5 stars
Making a horror film without any shocks is like making a sex comedy in which everyone keeps their clothes on – what’s the point? But the trend, of which Brahms: The Boy II is the latest incarnation, has become increasingly prevalent over the last decade, the result of a marketing decision by American studios to try to sell horror to those who are too young to get into a US “R” rated film.
The results, as with this subpar offering, are usually full of build-ups with no pay-offs, something which leaves horror-hungry viewers feeling continually short-changed.
This is the stand-alone follow-up to 2016’s The Boy, a film so forgettable that this writer had completely forgotten he had actually watched it. Some deep thinking recalled that it was very dull indeed. Brahms: The Boy II, the product of the same director, William Brent Bell, and the same scriptwriter, Stacey Menear, may be even duller.
After he sees his mother Liza (Katie Holmes) being violently attacked by a burglar, young Jude (Christopher Convery) is traumatised, and loses the power to speak.
Months later the family, which includes dad Sean (Owain Yeoman), decide to temporarily move into a gloomy mansion in the British countryside to try and recover from the robbery.