Quite entertaining and surprising end. Movie was not what I expected & not too good, but okay.

I started "The Boy" with low expectations regarding the overall quality of the story. Being that the film is on Netflix, I pretty much assumed that it would simply supply my need for a quick Halloween flick that wasn't R-rated. I expected a few jump-scares here; a female scream there, and a doll that moves on its own. Thankfully, the film exceeded my expectations. Disregard the reviews that say it is a complete bore - if you're fond of slow movies that carefully wait to crawl under your skin, you're going to love this film. It's a very interesting concept, and while the film does drag at times, the ending has a twist that, while I didn't really understand at first, turned out to be one of the most unpredictable plot twists I've seen in a while. I'm not sure I'll watch it a second time, but it was well worth the wait for the first sitting. I've seen over 400 movies, and I still was surprised by this show's ending. For that, my hat goes off to the creator - he did a really good job here.

I liked the twist but I wish they would've explained the family's story. A couple of jump scares, but not as much as I expected and for what I look for into a horror movie. Lauren Cohan is always a + though.

"The Boy" is a beautiful movie featuring a creepy doll as the center point of its story. Personally, I've never found dolls particularly scary. Now if this was about a ventriloquist dummy, that would probably terrify me. Short of the Twilight Zone's "Talky Tina", I just don't find them frightening. But Brahms, who is the creepy doll of this story, he's pretty unnerving. The goal of my review is not to give away anything. I can recommend "The Boy" as a thriller, but not as a Horror movie. It's rated PG-13 which means it comes pre-loaded with minimal gore and about a half dozen jump scares for teenagers who pay their money to jump out of their seats and then giggle with relief and embarrassment. But for those of us with the ability to recognize and appreciate a movie that can sustain a mood and generate fear, it's nice to find that "The Boy" has some of those moments as well. The first two-thirds of "The Boy" are its highlight. The development of Greta the Nanny (Lauren Cohen) and the backstory of Brahms, the deceased boy that the doll represents, is interesting. Once the elderly parents of Brahms leave on vacation, Brahms slowly torments Greta. We never see Brahms move and neither does Greta, and honestly it gets frustrating, but in a good way. It really ramps up the suspense and anticipation of the moment when we might get to see Brahms in motion. During the last third of the run time, things fell apart for me. I didn't care for the direction, or should I say the twist, that the movie took. It's not spoiling anything by saying there's a twist, especially for a twist junkie like myself. It just didn't go in the direction that I would have hoped it would. It's also not giving anything away by mentioning that direction is not something especially unique. Others may like the finale more than I did. Overall, this is a moody, good-looking movie with solid acting and a decent amount of suspense.

How the movie should have gone: Mrs Heelshire: ...this is Brahms. Greta: LOL. Girl, bye. *credits roll* That said, it was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I was expecting something in the vein of 'Annabelle', or similar supernatural movie, and thought it was fairly predictable throughout. Until the end, that is, which I definitely did not see coming at all.