Brahms The Boy II Movie Review: Clumsy ineffective spinoff

Brahms The Boy II. Pic/Youtube

Brahms The Boy II
A; Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Cast: Katie Holmes, Christopher Convery, Owain Yeoman, Ralph Ineson, Anjali Jay, Oliver Rice, Joely Collins, Natalie Moon
Director: William Brent Bell
Rating:

Taking a leaf out of the unprecedented success of the Chucky and Annabelle franchises, William Brent Bell and Stacey Menear fashioned 2016's "The Boy", which wasn't such a major hit that it warranted a sequel. But here we go again…

Constructed around a traumatic event, this sequel has Lisa (Katie Holmes) who hitherto has been living a happy life with her son, Jude (Christopher Convery), and workaholic husband, Sean (Owain Yeoman), suddenly finds her mental peace destroyed by a violent home invasion. Jude is also traumatised by the event. Jude goes silent and communicates in non-verbal clues and writing - a behaviour which disturbs Sean - enough to want to relocate. But the guest house near the Heelshire Mansion, throws up more hauntings with Jude's discovery of the doll Brahms who thereafter controls the show.

Watch Brahms The Boy II Trailer:

The original was not visible in the box-office listings in India but the sequel appears to have found a life of its own thanks to PVR. A low-budget feature that appears to be intended as a brand extention, Brahms The Boy II is a rather unassuming reworking of the central concept. This spin-off has a supernatural, dark-magic bent, allowing for some fairly gritty atmosphere but the rest is just familiar tiresome beats. There's nothing interesting or intriguing here and the suddenly served up jump scares fail to do the trick either. The violence here is more mean-spirited and gorier, focused as it is on children and animals - but the sort of loose mythology it presents, doesn't hit the sweet spot for a compelling viewing.

In the first film the porcelain doll was a mere medium for the evil that reigned, here he is the evil. Not that it makes much difference to the overall effect. The director-writer duo try to make it a psychological play on a troubled mind, even going to the extent of suggesting that it could well be Lisa's over-sensitised imagination working up all that lather. Unfortunately, nothing sticks. We are not convinced either ways and the film just plays out flat and uninteresting.

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