In “Brahms The Boy II” a stressed out family comprising dad Sean (Owain Yeoman) mom Lisa (Katie Holmes) and young son Jude (Christopher Convery) relocates from an urban setting to a rural guest house situated on a rambling dilapidated estate, unaware of its tragic history.
On the extensive grounds, Jude scoops up a porcelain doll which becomes the constant companion of the boy who had stopped speaking after a savage home burglary. Before long, Jude articulates on behalf of the doll, a set of unreasonable rules. The mother, traumatised as she is, will brook no nonsense. Unsurprisingly, she and her son are blamed for the violence and other abnormalities that occur.
Is the doll a supernatural creature, or have mother and son been rendered dysfunctional by their past traumas? There’s a warden (Ralph Ibeson) and a psychiatrist (Anjali Jay) and the script could have done with some psychological cat and mouse games but the baffling twist in the final scene, ensures chapter three.
That said, let me add, jump scares and dark foreboding atmospherics still make Brahms The Boy 2 a worthy enough successor to its predecessor courtesy the director William Brent Bell and scriptwriter Stacey Menear, both of whom worked on the original about manipulative ghouls ensconced in the Gothic mansion in the English countryside.
I would have presumed the name assigned in this stand alone sequel to the sinister doll was rather pretentious until I (duly) noted that hapless Jude loves to play the most famous cradle song in the world composed by Johannes Brahms, the great German pianist, conductor and composer of the Romantic period.
I forgot Hitler, but fuddy-duddy that I am, I still think it's gross that a (cinematic) monster is fleshed out with aesthetic good taste, considering that its murderous malevolence is unleashed on small bullies and dogs who can see through it. Its principal target, of course, cannot, until the second and the third acts. And then, a twist in the final scene suggests otherwise, not to speak of another sequel.
Film: Brahms the Boy II
Cast: Katie Holmes, Owain Yeoman, Ralph Ineson, Christopher Convery, Anjali Jay
Director: William Brent Bell
Rating: * * *
