Brahms: The Boy II

Grade: C-

Sometimes I wonder if characters in horror films would act the same way if they could hear the score. I am also growing weary of these stories that involve a force behind everything, manipulating the events and characters. Seems like a too-easy excuse for the screenwriters to justify odd behavior. “Hey, if these people are doing anything that appears unnatural and doesn’t make sense, uh, the force made them do it.”

Brahms: The Boy II is a dismal, perpetually-low-key horror sequel that has both a “force” and music that dictates how we should be responding. I did not see the original 2016 The Boy, but from what I was able to gather, it has the kind of plot twist where it turns out nothing supernatural is involved. I respect that. Here, though, there is possession and puppet-mastering happening.

The main players are a family of 3: Liza (Katie Holmes, nice to see her again), Sean (Owain Yeoman), and their young son Jude (Christopher Convery). After a home burglary that injures Liza and leaves Jude traumatized to the point of becoming mute, they move to what turns out to be a guest house on the grounds of the mansion where the action from the first film took place. While wandering out in the woods, Jude stumbles upon a doll that’s been buried in the ground. They unearth it, bring it inside, and it’s Jude’s best friend.

Jude communicates by writing things down. In one of the movie’s many missteps, it looks like he’s written down his lines in advance, as he always seems to be at the ready with his response. He informs his parents that the doll’s name is Brahms, and Brahms came with rules, and you don’t want to break them and make Brahms mad. And the genre’s machinery starts creaking. When Jude ends up speaking again, it’s rather unceremonious and lacking in a significant reason. Almost more like he was bored with being quiet than a result of a plot development. There could have been an ending where an emotional journey has taken place for the characters, and they may have learned something by the end. Unfortunately, though, all that is thrown out the window for a potential set up for a The Boy III and beyond.

I was amazed at the bad decisions the parents continued to make, like letting Jude run ahead of them so many times to explore in the woods and/or the mansion – which of course is followed by them yelling “Jude!” so many times that I wanted them to mix it up and suggest he take a sad song and make it better. Or when they leave Brahms outside after the scene with the croquet game. Or leave Jude alone so much in general. Or when they split up at crucial times when they of all people should know by now that there’s safety in numbers. They are almost hilariously stupid, but maybe I should give them more credit. They don’t hear the music we do.

Grade: C-