The right doll can certainly give off a creepy vibe. Whole episodes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE were built on off-kilter dolls coming to life. Chucky is the prime example of how an entire franchise can be built upon toys wreaking havoc. James Wan embraced the idea for THE CONJURING and its ANABELLE spinoff. A toy coming to life is a solid concept for horror, given the very nature of reasonable people being unable to believe that something strange is happening with such an innocent-looking figure meant for children. George Costanza couldn’t even have sex, because he thought one of his fiance’s dolls looked like his mother. How’s that for messed-up?
THE BOY is totally writing this bandwagon of creepy toys, as evidenced by the first trailer from STX Entertainment. Starring Lauren Cohan (THE WALKING DEAD), the film tells the story of a nanny who is hired to care for a parent’s son… only that son is a doll they treat like a real boy. They give her a set of rules to follow. Of course, she doesn’t do so, and then the terror begins to creep in slowly as it appears the damn thing might be alive.
First off, always follow the rules, man. Did GREMLINS not teach us to always do things by the book when it is stressed that vehemently? And secondly… well, let’s just go right back to following those damn rules. Talk about welcoming trouble.
STX Entertainment is relatively new on the scene, with THE GIFT earlier this year being their first ever release. The January release date for THE BOY and William Brent Bell (who helmed the awful THE DEVIL INSIDE) directing doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, but stranger things have happened than finding an entertaining movie at the beginning of the year from a filmmaker with a spotty history. The trailer intrigues me enough, so perhaps this one will warrant a watch come the new year.
THE BOY creeps into theaters on January 22, 2016.