Movie Review: THE BOY

Not to be confused with the theatrical film of the same name from 2016 featuring the animated doll, this one could just as easily have been titled “The Care and Raising of a Serial Killer.” It’s disturbingly accurate in terms of showing the audience the ways it can too easily happen. There’s that whole debate, nature versus nurture. Are there some people who are just born evil? Maybe, but the latest thinking from psychiatrists and psychologists is that there must be both a genetic predisposition to sociopathy and then an inciting factor or factors during the developmental period for the recipe to turn out just right and produce a human monster. In THE BOY we see a kid who clearly has such a genetic predisposition and we see a neglectful father. This latter (portrayed by David Morse of THE GREEN MILE and DISTURBIA) is not an evil man himself, just careless. If he’d been a good dad, an involved single parent, would things have turned out differently? We don’t know, but possibly. As it is…

The child actor, Jared Breeze, gives one of the finest performances I’ve ever seen from a kid as the central character, the killer in the making. If you have that creepy kid phobia, you’ll probably want to avoid this one. Otherwise, dig in. This is good stuff.

Also notable is Rainn Wilson, providing credible work here that is far removed from his role of Dwight from the TV series THE OFFICE. (Which is, he said, why he took the role.)

By The Evil Cheezman

WAYNE MILLER is the owner and creative director of EVIL CHEEZ PRODUCTIONS (www.evilcheezproductions.blogspot.com, www.facebook.com/evilcheezproductions), specializing in theatrical performances and haunted attractions. He has written, produced and directed (and occasionally acted in) over a dozen plays, most of them in the Horror and Crime genres. His first novel, THE CONFESSIONS OF SAINT CHRISTOPHER: WEREWOLF, is available for purchase at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/734763 MORTUI VELOCES SUNT!

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