Brahms: The Boy II (2020) - In Theaters Now

Movie Name/Year: Brahms: The Boy II (2020)

Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery

Length: 86 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Production/Distribution: Huayi Brothers, Lakeshore Entertainment, STX Entertainment, GEM Entertainment, Capelight Pictures, Diamond Films, Golden Village Pictures, Metropolitan Filmexport, Odeon, Polyfilm Verleih, Sabay MVP, The Searchers, Viva International Pictures, Ascot Elite Entertainment Group, Cinemundo

Director: William Brent Bell

Writer: Stacey Menear

Actors: Katie Holmes, Owain Yeoman, Christopher Convery, Ralph Ineson, Anjali Jay, Oliver Rice, Natalie Moon, Daphne Hoskins, Joely Collins, Ellie King, Joanne Kimm, Keoni Rebeiro, Charles Jarman

Blurb from IMDb: After a family moves into the Heelshire Mansion, their young son soon makes friends with a life-like doll called Brahms.

Selina’s Point of View:

I think the first film: The Boy (2016), was decent. It wasn’t my favorite thing in the world, and I didn’t love all of it… but it was ok. I wasn’t exactly cursing the time I spent watching it. In fact, I rather enjoyed the ending – despite that seeming to be an unpopular opinion.

When I saw the trailer for this sequel, I had some issues. The original film didn’t really leave too much open for the supernatural twist that Brahms: The Boy II seemed like it would be exploring. I had questions. Most of it based around continuity issues – which is not the kind of questions you want a sequel trailer to evoke.

I went into the theater skeptical.

Now, Brahms: The Boy II is getting some shit reviews – and I get it. There’s a lot of cookie cutter bullshit involved. The creators seemed to try to hard to utilize the jump scare. This film didn’t need it. In the trailer alone, you see Katie Holmes’ (Coda, Logan Lucky, Dear Dictator) character essentially jump scare the audience herself for no reason. There’s a lot in the actual film that follows that line of crap.

The problem is, by the time I finished watching it, I saw a lot of untapped potential in this movie. It did something you really want to see in a sequel. It filled in plot holes and expanded upon the world of the first film. It gave us a more in depth look at what was really going on in The Boy. I loved that aspect of this. It made me want to go back and watch the first film. When I gave in and actually DID go back to watch it, the expanded ideas from the second movie really made the first one better.

I don’t know why the creators decided to try and make Brahms: The Boy II into a movie that could stand on its own. As a simply expansion onto the first, it was great. It was the stuff they tried to pack in to make it a stand-alone that didn’t work. What they wound up with was a mess of shit stuffed into what could have been an epilogue film for The Boy. It was unnecessary.

I wish I could give this movie a better review. If a few things had been changed, this could have been something outstanding. Unfortunately, it just wound up being a bit of a waste.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 10%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 42%

Metascore – 29/100

Metacritic User Score – 5.4/10

IMDB Score – 4.3/10

CinemaScore – C-

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 2.5/5

Movie Trailer: