"The Boy" is a beautiful movie featuring a creepy doll as the center point of its story. Personally, I've never found dolls particularly scary. Now if this was about a ventriloquist dummy, that would probably terrify me. Short of the Twilight Zone's "Talky Tina", I just don't find them frightening. But Brahms, who is the creepy doll of this story, he's pretty unnerving.

The goal of my review is not to give away anything. I can recommend "The Boy" as a thriller, but not as a Horror movie. It's rated PG-13 which means it comes pre-loaded with minimal gore and about a half dozen jump scares for teenagers who pay their money to jump out of their seats and then giggle with relief and embarrassment. But for those of us with the ability to recognize and appreciate a movie that can sustain a mood and generate fear, it's nice to find that "The Boy" has some of those moments as well.

The first two-thirds of "The Boy" are its highlight. The development of Greta the Nanny (Lauren Cohen) and the backstory of Brahms, the deceased boy that the doll represents, is interesting. Once the elderly parents of Brahms leave on vacation, Brahms slowly torments Greta. We never see Brahms move and neither does Greta, and honestly it gets frustrating, but in a good way. It really ramps up the suspense and anticipation of the moment when we might get to see Brahms in motion.

During the last third of the run time, things fell apart for me. I didn't care for the direction, or should I say the twist, that the movie took. It's not spoiling anything by saying there's a twist, especially for a twist junkie like myself. It just didn't go in the direction that I would have hoped it would. It's also not giving anything away by mentioning that direction is not something especially unique. Others may like the finale more than I did.

Overall, this is a moody, good-looking movie with solid acting and a decent amount of suspense.