With the “Child’s Play” revamp, another “Annabelle” sequel, and “Brahms: The Boy II” (and, honestly, depending on your view of the “Toy Story” franchise), creepy dolls are all the rage. The next “The Boy” installment finds our focus now, as that evil doll boy makes his return after his 2016 original outing. Though the film failed to really strike much of a chord in the grander genre conversation, “The Boy” was a sound investment for STX films, which made $64.2 million on its original $10 million budget. The world at large might not have met Brahms the Doll, but enough people did to give him an entirely new outing.
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Katie Holmes leads the newest doll and scary show, which will inevitably lead her to encounter Brahms the malevolent doll-boy who has returned to do his requisite creeping. Our own Gregory Ellwood caught a little bit of footage for “Brahms: The Boy II” at CinemaCon in April, and provided that the film “looks like it will scare anyone who was scared by the first ‘The Boy’ or somehow afraid of large dolls.” I mean, shouldn’t everyone have a healthy fear of creepy dolls?
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Ralph Ineson, Christopher Convery, and Owain Yeoman round out the cast in a movie that might not have a ton of appeal outside of the fans of the first film. But with the first installment’s returns, we might be seeing Brahms for some time to come. Horror is still one of the most profitable, inexpensive genres around. Maybe returning director William Brent Bell will up the ante this time around and deliver a “Boy” worth celebrating. Here’s the official synopsis:
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Unaware of the terrifying history of Heelshire Mansion, a young family moves into a guest house on the estate where their young son soon makes an unsettling new friend, an eerily life-like doll he calls Brahms. Katie Holmes stars in STXfilms and Lakeshore Entertainment’s BRAHMS: THE BOY II, alongside Christopher Convery (“Gotham”), Owain Yeoman (The Belko Experience) and Ralph Ineson (The Witch). William Brent Bell returns to direct BRAHMS: THE BOY II. The producers are Lakeshore’s Tom Rosenberg, Eric Reid, Gary Lucchesi, and Richard Wright in addition to Matt Berenson, Jim Wedaa and Roy Lee.
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If not, well, you can at least cross off “Brahms: The Boy II” on your Creepy Doll Summer Bingo Card. Just make sure the prize isn’t just a creepy doll to take home. If these movies have taught us anything, it’s to leave these things where you found them.
The film is due to sit on a shelf and stare uneasily at you on February 21.