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The Boy
2016 98 min United States of America PG-13 16+
★5.4
Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Director: William Brent Bell
Trailers
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EN
Description
A young American woman takes a job as a nanny in a remote English village, soon discovering that the family's eight-year-old son is a life-sized doll that comes with a list of strict rules.
Budget:
$10M
US Gross:
$35.82M
Worldwide:
$73.93M
Starring
Lauren Cohan
Actor
Rupert Evans
Actor
James Russell
Actor
Awards
6 nominations total
Key opinion
The Boy is generally regarded as an atmospheric and visually polished film that excels in building initial suspense through its unique premise. However, it is frequently criticized for a weak screenplay that devolves into formulaic tropes, an uneven narrative structure, and a polarizing, poorly executed final act.
| Acting | Lauren Cohan’s performance is a consistent anchor, effectively conveying the protagonist's fear and grounding the film's more absurd elements. | |
| Production | The production design and Gothic atmosphere of the isolated manor successfully create a sense of dread and visual sophistication. | |
| Originality | The film’s reliance on predictable jump scares and recycled genre clichés prevents it from rising above standard formulaic horror. | |
| Pacing | The narrative structure is deeply uneven; the high tension of the first half collapses into a disorganized and unsatisfying conclusion. | |
| Ending | The climactic twist polarizes viewers, with some finding it a clever subversion of supernatural expectations and others dismissing it as illogical and poorly explained. |