“The Boy” wants to scare you. It mostly succeeds at making you roll your eyes.
The horror-comedy hybrid stars Lauren Cohan as Greta, a widow who rents a large house in the countryside to make ends meet. The catch: the house comes with a life-size doll named Chad, who sits in the living room and watches everyone who passes through. Greta soon realizes that Chad is more than a creepy decoration. He has a mind of his own, and he doesn’t like it when people leave.
The setup is simple and effective. A doll in a house full of strangers sounds like the perfect premise for a jump-scare movie. The problem is that the filmmakers don’t know when to stop.
Trailer, via STXfilms.
Chad the Doll
Chad is the heart of the film. He’s voiced by Stephen Merchant, who delivers a performance that’s equal parts unsettling and flat-out ridiculous. Merchant’s Chad is a petulant child who throws tantrums, demands attention, and gets jealous when other dolls show up. The humor is supposed to be dark, but it often lands as simply silly.
The doll’s movements are the film’s most impressive technical achievement. Chad can walk, sit, and even pick things up. The animatronics are genuinely impressive, and they’re the reason the film occasionally feels scary. But the scares are undercut by the constant jokes, which drain the tension before it builds.
Cohan carries the film. Her Greta is a widow trying to hold her family together after a tragedy. She’s desperate for money, but she’s also fiercely protective of her children. When Chad starts acting out, Greta has to balance her fear with her need to keep the rental income coming in. Cohan sells the fear and the frustration in equal measure, and she’s the reason the film holds together at all.
The House and Its Guests
The house itself is a character. It’s isolated, large, and full of rooms that nobody ever seems to use. The film takes advantage of this by hiding Chad in unexpected places. A closet, a basement, a garden shed — each location offers a new way to scare the audience.
The guests are less memorable. They come and go, and most of them exist only to be threatened by Chad. There’s a couple who argue constantly, a young man who’s clearly a stoner, and a family with small children who don’t understand why Chad is so frightening. None of them are particularly well-written, but they serve the plot.
The humor aimed at these guests is the film’s biggest flaw. The film tries to be clever about how Chad interacts with the other dolls in the house, but the jokes fall flat. A joke about Chad being jealous of another doll is funny once. After five or six, it becomes tedious.
The Scares That Work
There are moments when “The Boy” gets it right. A scene where Chad follows a guest through the house is genuinely tense. The doll’s slow, deliberate movements are unsettling, and the camera work keeps the audience off-balance. These scenes work because they’re grounded in the characters’ reactions. Greta’s fear is palpable, and the tension is earned.
The problem is that these moments are few and far between. The film spends too much time on Chad’s antics and not enough on building dread. A jump-scare movie needs to establish a sense of unease before it can deliver the shocks. “The Boy” skips that step entirely.
The climax is a mess. Chad goes on a rampage, and the film devolves into a chaotic sequence of dolls attacking each other. It’s over-the-top and cartoonish, and it completely undermines the tone that the earlier scenes had established. By the end, the film has lost any sense of dread it might have had.
The Writing Problem
The script is the weakest element. The dialogue is stilted, and the pacing is uneven. The film jumps from tense scenes to broad comedy in a way that’s jarring. One minute you’re on the edge of your seat, and the next you’re laughing at Chad’s antics. The tonal shifts are so frequent that the film never settles into a consistent rhythm.
The humor is also inconsistent. Some jokes land, while others miss completely. A running gag about Chad’s jealousy is played out by the halfway mark. The film doesn’t know when to let a joke go, and it suffers for it.
The setup is strong, but the execution is weak. The film could have been a lean, mean thriller. Instead, it’s a bloated comedy-horror hybrid that never commits to either genre.
What Works
Not everything is bad. The practical effects are worth noting. Chad is a fully articulated doll, and the animatronic work is impressive. The film uses real doll movements rather than CGI, which gives the scares a weight that digital effects often lack.
Cohan’s performance is also a highlight. She’s a professional actor, and she brings a genuine sense of terror to the role. Even when the film around her is slipping, she keeps the audience invested in Greta’s plight.
The house itself is a great setting. The isolated rural location adds to the sense of dread. The film uses the space effectively, and the doll’s ability to move through it creates a sense of unease that’s rare in modern horror.
What Doesn’t Work
The humor is the biggest issue. The film tries to be both a horror movie and a comedy, but it fails to deliver on either front. The scares are diluted by the jokes, and the jokes are diluted by the scares. The result is a film that’s neither scary nor funny.
The pacing is also a problem. The film drags in the middle, with long stretches where nothing happens except Chad making faces. This slows down the momentum and makes the final act feel rushed. The climax is a frantic mess, and it leaves the audience confused rather than satisfied.
The supporting cast is underwritten. The guests are stereotypes, and their presence is used solely as a way to set up scares. They don’t get developed, and they don’t get payoff. Their inclusion feels like padding rather than character development.
The Final Verdict
“The Boy” has some good ideas and some good performances. It also has some terrible ones. The film is a mixed bag that never quite coheres. It’s a film that’s trying to be two things at once, and it fails to be either.
The practical effects are impressive, and Cohan is excellent. But the writing is weak, the pacing is uneven, and the humor is misplaced. The film is a frustrating watch, one that alternates between moments of genuine fright and sequences that feel like they were written by a committee.
If you’re looking for a horror-comedy, there are better options. “What We Do in the Shadows” is smarter. If you’re looking for a straight horror film, there are better options. “Hereditary” is scarier. “The Boy” is a film that splits the difference and fails on both counts.
It’s a film that’s worth seeing once, for the doll work and the occasional scare. But it’s not a film that rewards repeat viewings.
The final score is 4.2 out of 10.
Key Facts Box
- Title: The Boy
- Year: 2016
- Director: William Brent Bell
- Starring: Lauren Cohan, Stephen Merchant, George MacKay
- Runtime: 86 minutes
- Score: 4.2/10
Schedule Table
| Scene | Type |
|---|---|
| Opening rental sequence | Horror |
| Chad’s first interaction with Greta | Horror |
| Guest arrival and introduction | Comedy |
| Chad attacks a guest | Horror |
| Mid-film doll rampage | Comedy |
| Climax and finale | Horror |
The film is a mixed bag that never quite coheres. It’s a film that’s trying to be two things at once, and it fails to be either.
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