Brahms: The Boy II

Brahms: The Boy II is a 2020 American supernatural horror film starring Katie Holmes, Ralph Ineson, and Owain Yeoman. A stand-alone sequel to the 2016 film The Boy, it is directed by William Brent Bell and written by Stacey Menear, the respective director and writer of the original film. The plot follows a young boy who, after moving into a mansion with his parents following a traumatizing incident, finds a lifelike doll he becomes attached to.

Brahms: The Boy II
Theatrical release poster
Directed byWilliam Brent Bell
Produced by
Written byStacey Menear
Starring
Music byBrett Detar
CinematographyKarl Walter Lindenlaub
Edited byBrian Berdan
Production
companies
Distributed bySTX Entertainment
Release date
  • February 21, 2020 (2020-02-21) (United States)
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$10 million[1]
Box office$20.3 million[1]

Brahms: The Boy II was released in the United States by STX Entertainment on February 7, 2020, and was heavily panned by critics. The film grossed $20 million worldwide, it was a box office flop.

Plot

A home invasion leaves Liza with a head injury and her son Jude traumatized and silent for months. Along with Sean, Liza's husband and Jude's father, they move across country to the Heelshires' property. While exploring the woods, Jude finds a porcelain doll buried in a shallow grave in the ground and dusts off the dirt before deciding to take him home. Liza and Sean believe he is using the doll to express his feelings but it becomes more sinister with the doll laying down his rules. Jude becomes withdrawn in his room, carrying the doll with him wherever he goes.

The parents soon learn the evil history of the doll, with all the killings and suicides. More unusual incidents happen, like the dining room table collapsing when Jude warns his mother not to make the doll angry. Liza also sees horrific and violent drawings in Jude's notepad. Jude's Uncle Liam, Aunt Mary, cousins Will and Sophie visit. Jude, Will and Sophie go play outside and Will starts taunting Jude about both his psychological issues and the doll. As the two boys get into a fight, Will falls backwards and impales himself onto a broken croquet peg. After the badly injured boy is rushed to the hospital, Groundskeeper Joseph enters the house, aiming a shotgun at Liza. He begins telling the story of how Brahms asked him to put him back together, making Jude an easy target for the doll as he was not strong-willed. He then tells her that Brahms will take Jude away forever. Liza attacks Joseph with the shotgun, before beginning to search for her son. She goes into the basement and finds Jude in a trance-like state, ready to sacrifice himself with the doll. Liza manages to convince Jude that they will take Brahms home and become a family, without seeing Sean come in and break Brahms' head with a croquet mallet before Joseph comes running in. Brahms' head shatters, revealing a demonic doll underneath, more sinister than the porcelain innocent face. Brahms then kills Joseph without hesitation.

Jude picks Brahms up, convincing him they will be fine before tossing the doll into the fire. The family embrace and return to their home, living happily as before the home invasion incident. At night, Jude puts on his Brahms face mask, looking at his reflection in the mirror, and ensuring Brahms that "they'll be happy here" assuming his parents "learn the rules".

Cast

Production

Development

By October 2018, it was announced that a sequel was in development, with Katie Holmes joining the cast of the film, William Brent Bell returning to direct and Stacey Menear back to write the script of the film, respectively, with Matt Berenson, Gary Lucchesi, Tom Rosenberg, Jim Wedaa and Eric Reid serving as producers, under their Lakeshore Entertainment banners, and STX Entertainment producing and distributing the film.[2]

Casting

In November 2018, Christopher Convery, Ralph Ineson and Owain Yeoman also joined the cast of the film.[3][4]

Filming

Principal photography began in January 2019 and wrapped that March. Parts of the sequel were filmed in Victoria on Vancouver Island, located in British Columbia, Canada.[5]

Release

The film was theatrically released in the United States on February 21, 2020.[6][7] It was previously scheduled for July 26, 2019, and then December 6, 2019.[8]

Reception

Box office

Brahms: The Boy II grossed $12.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $7.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $20.3 million, against a production budget of $10 million.[1]

In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside The Call of the Wild, and was projected to gross $5–8 million from 2,151 theaters in its opening weekend.[9][10] The film made $2.2 million on its first day, including $375,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $5.7 million, finishing fifth at the box office.[11] In its second weekend the film dropped 55% to $2.6 million, finishing sixth.[12]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 9% based on 53 reviews, with an average rating of 3.52/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "More likely to induce boredom than quicken the pulse, Brahms: The Boy II is chiefly scary for the way it undermines the effectiveness of its above-average predecessor."[13] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 29 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."[14] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C–" on an A+ to F scale, and PostTrak reported it received an average 1 out of 5 stars from viewers they polled, with 24% of people saying they would definitely recommend it.[11]

Benjamin Lee, writing for The Guardian, gave the film one star out of five, describing it as "so punishingly dull to watch, filled with dry, perfunctory dialogue from Stacey Menear's consistently uninventive script and shot without even a glimmer of style," adding that "even at a brisk 86 minutes, it feels like unending torture..." with a finale "that buckles under the weight of its own stupidity, as well as some god-awful CGI."[15]

References
  1. "Brahms: The Boy II (2020)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  2. Hipes, Patrick (October 23, 2018). "'The Boy' Sequel A Go At STX With Katie Holmes, Original Director William Brent Bell". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  3. Hipes, Patrick (November 19, 2018). "'The Boy 2' Adds Christopher Convery To Cast After Strong AFM". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  4. "Owain Yeoman & Ralph Ineson Board STX-Lakeshore's 'The Boy 2' With Katie Holmes". Deadline Hollywood. November 26, 2018. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  5. Kay, Jeremy (January 30, 2019). "Katie Holmes, Ralph Ineson horror 'The Boy 2' starts production for STX, Lakeshore". Screen International. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
  6. "The Boy 2". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  7. "'Brahms: The Boy II' Will Now Haunt Theaters on February 21, 2020". 2019-10-16.
  8. Squires, John (March 6, 2019). "STX Films Bringing Brahms Back to the Big Screen in 'The Boy 2' This Summer". Bloody-Disgusting.com. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  9. Fuster, Jeremy (February 18, 2020). "Harrison Ford's 'The Call of the Wild' Faces Off Against 'Sonic' at This Weekend's Box Office". TheWrap. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
  10. Rubin, Rebecca (February 19, 2020). "Harrison Ford's 'Call of the Wild' Battles 'Sonic the Hedgehog' at Box Office". Variety. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  11. D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 23, 2020). "'Hedgehog' Bites Back At 'Wild' Dog As 'Sonic' Speeds To No. 1 With $26M+; $203M+ WW – Sunday AM Update". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 23, 2020.
  12. D'Alessandro, Anthony (March 1, 2020). "'The Invisible Man' Sighting At B.O. Swells To $29M – Sunday AM Update". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
  13. "Brahms: The Boy II (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
  14. "Brahms: The Boy II Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  15. Lee, Benjamin (February 21, 2020). "Brahms: The Boy II review – wilfully unscary evil doll horror". The Guardian. Retrieved February 22, 2020.
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