By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)
There’s no devil found inside The Boy, only misguided innocence. This movie is a mildly chilling thriller directed by William Brent Bell. His trail of horror films are amusing, but they feel like they do not have the necessary sparkle and charm needed to put them at a level of being truly scary when compared to his non genre work.
In this film, a porcelain doll is the subject of speculation. The trailers suggest a spirit inhabits it. When people are not looking, it would jerk its head or disappear. Tiny moments of solid direction in the movie editing suite offers some terse moments, but they are not enough to carry the movie from beginning to end. Writer Stacey Menear might have crafted this movie on spec and the true discomfort of what a haunted doll can project is not always convincingly portrayed. Gone are the days of Chucky, and the in-thing now is with Annabelle. For people interested in authentic histories of such possessed figures, there’s plenty of to go around, including a locale in Mexico which nobody in their right mind would want to visit at night. Maybe the filmmakers should have went to Isla de las Muñecas for added inspiration.
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