Brahms: The Boy II (2020) STX/Horror RT: 86 minutes Rated PG-13 (terror, violence, disturbing images, thematic elements) Director: William Brent Bell Screenplay: Stacey Menear Music: Brett Detar Cinematography: Karl Walter Lindenlaub Release date: February 21, 2020 (US) Cast: Katie Holmes, Owain Yeoman, Christopher Convery, Ralph Ineson, Anjali Jay, Oliver Rice, Natalie Moon, Daphne Hoskins, Joely Collins. Box Office: $12.6M (US)/$20.3M (World)
Rating: * ½
Of all the movies that call for a sequel, the 2016 horror movie The Boy is far down the list. Yet here I am faced with the task of reviewing Brahms: The Boy II, a lame follow-up that cancels out everything that was sort of clever about the original. By way of illustrating what I mean, let me take you back in time to 1991 and a crappy movie called Highlander II: The Quickening. It’s the sequel to the 1986 cult classic about immortals, centuries-old beings living in present day, gathering for an event called “The Quickening”, a big sword fight to determine who will be the last one standing. One of the things that made the first movie incredible is that it never attempted to explain the origin of the immortals. They just were. The sequel ruined it by explaining the immortals were aliens banished to Earth. Brahms: The Boy II is guilty of the same offense. That’s on top of it not being the slightest bit scary.
I’m writing this review with the assumption everybody reading it has seen The Boy and therefore knows how it ends. As such, what I’m about to say is NOT a spoiler. I need to talk about the ending in order to tell you what’s wrong with Brahms: The Boy II. As you recall, the original centered on a nanny charged with taking care of a creepy porcelain doll named Brahms. It’s implied throughout that the doll is supernatural. But then the director pulls a switcheroo on the audience by revealing that all the weird stuff that happened was really the work of a psycho living in the walls of the eerie mansion where the action took place. Although I didn’t care for The Boy, I thought it was a clever twist. SPOLIER ALERT! Sadly, Brahms: The Boy II undoes all of it. That’s all I’ll say on that.
I suppose some of you want to know the plot of Brahms: The Boy II. Not that it’s any big deal. In fact, it’s rather generic. It all starts with a home invasion that results in severe trauma for Liza (Holmes, Go) and her young son Jude (Convery, The Girl in the Spider’s Web). The boy is so traumatized, he stops speaking altogether, communicating with a big notepad and pen. The husband/father Sean (Yeoman, The Belko Experiment) decides the best thing for them is to get away from the city. They move to the guest house that sits on the Heelshire property where the first movie took place. They go for a walk in the woods where Jude finds the doll Brahms buried in a shallow grave. He takes it home where it initially seems his new “friend” is helping him make progress. It isn’t long before he becomes unnaturally attached to Brahms. Naturally, it freaks out his parents, especially Liza who starts seeing weird things. It could be because of the head injury she received. It could also be that Brahms is really alive, possessed by some demonic entity that is infecting her son who insists that they follow a set of rules laid out by his doll.
Since I already explained how Brahms: The Boy II cancels out the original, let’s talk about other things. For one thing, I was hoping that it would follow the current trend of sequels to weak horror movies being better than their predecessors- e.g. Ouija: Origin of Evil, Annabelle: Creation and The Strangers: Prey at Night. I thought maybe we’d get lucky with this one too, but that is so not the case. If anything, it makes the first movie look better. At least that one had a big eerie mansion as its primary setting. The sequel takes place in a guest house with zero personality. The family may as well have stayed in a Motel 6 for what it doesn’t bring to the story. That, of course, would be atmosphere. Then there’s the high predictability factor. Nothing happens in Brahms: The Boy II that we can’t see coming from a country mile away. For instance, their odd neighbor (Ineson, The Witch) is indeed connected to the events of the movie. You know it from the moment he appears with a shotgun and a dog that won’t be around for long. Also, the reason Liza can’t find Brahms’ registration number on the antique doll website is exactly what you think. Hint, the number 6. Look at it, think about it. Got it? It’s not rocket science.
Like I said earlier, Brahms: The Boy II commits the cardinal sin of horror movies. It’s not scary. There isn’t a single effective chill, thrill or “BOO!” scene in its entire 86 minutes. The lack of these things makes it seem longer than it is. It’s BORING! The whole thing is as bland as tea made with a twice-used bag. The only thing that saves Brahms: The Boy II from complete failure is a decent performance from Holmes as the mom who thinks she’s losing her mind. Surely that doll didn’t just move, did he? There’s no way he could have overturned the dining room table, is there? She looks suitably spooked. You can tell she’s trying to transcend the dopey material. Convery, as the troubled boy, does little more than sit around with a blank expression on his face. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between him and Brahms. I think the latter may be slightly more animated.
Brahms: The Boy II is the very definition of lame. It’s too bland to hate or enjoy as a guilty pleasure. It has only one good scene involving a bullying cousin, a sharp croquet stake and a tug-of-war over a hat. I think you can see where that’s going. That’s the high point of the movie (pun totally intended!). Helmed by returning director William Brent Bell, it moves along at a glacial pace before it reaches the end with a final twist more confusing than anything else. Unless you’re a fervent fan of the first movie, there’s no reason to see Brahms: The Boy II. It’s a clinker.
