After a family moves into the Heelshire Mansion, their young son soon makes friends with a life-like doll called Brahms.
“Brahms: The Boy II” is a film that never should have been produced. Completely devoid of any horror, tension, or dramatic elements, it perplexes me as to how it actually got made. There is absolutely nothing creepy throughout, just a series of jump scares, supposed creepy doll disappearances, and a poor attempt at a dramatic narrative that never goes anywhere. Poor Katie Holmes appears to be giving it her all but the movie fails her, and every other cast member herein.
Liza (Katie Holmes) is an American who lives in London with her English husband Sean (Owain Yeoman) and young son Jude (Christopher Convery). One evening while Sean is entertaining clients at his workplace, two masked burglars break into their house and attack Liza. The men escape and Liza is left traumatized from the assault, enduring constant nightmares every night thereafter. Having witnessed the attack, Jude is left distressed by the events and stops talking. Shortly thereafter, Sean decides to move the family out of the city and into the country into a rental house which will allow him the opportunity to work from home but will also give him the chance to keep an eye on Liza and Jude.
Their house is located on a large property that also includes a now-abandoned, magnificent home. They learn that the house was once occupied by the Heelshire family and that they died under strange circumstances years earlier. While out exploring the property, Jude discovers an old porcelain doll buried in the dirt with only his hand sticking out of the ground. He becomes infatuated with it and takes it with him wherever he goes. Over time, strange happenings occur in the house and Liza learns about the evil history of the Heelshire House and that the malevolent spirit of their young son, Brahms, is now inhabiting the doll. In order to save her family, she must venture into the old house and confront the evil that dwells within, before it’s too late.
“Brahms: The Boy II” is an unholy mess, an embarrassment to horror films. There isn’t one scene in the entire movie that delivers any scares or thrills and even the attack on Liza in the beginning, a component of the script that could have lent itself to some decent drama, quickly becomes irrelevant and is forgotten about early on. Why it was even included is beyond me. While the doll itself is somewhat creepy in its overall appearance, it never manages to invoke any real sense of menace or intimidation, maybe the filmmakers should have watched “Annabelle” or even “Poltergeist” to learn what types of dolls are actually creepy. The film is packed with every clichéd and stereotypical horror trope you can think of and leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination, a pity because the locale would be perfect for a really scary movie. Sadly, this is not it.
Now available on Digital HD and On-Demand and on Blu-ray™ & DVD May 19th
