Brahms: The Boy II | 2020 | PG-13 | – 1.5.3

Why is “Brahms: The Boy II” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “for terror, violence, disturbing images and thematic elements.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a brief hug and underwear seen through opaque night clothing; a home invasion, images of dead bodies from murder scenes, a few scenes of threats of violence, supernatural activity with threats of violence or death to people, a dead dog, and effects of traumatic events; and some strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.”

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In this sequel to the 2016 horror movie The Boy, a couple (Katie Holmes and Owain Yeoman) with a young child (Christopher Convery) moves into a guest house on an isolated estate and their son soon discovers a new friend: a strange life-like doll called Brahms that may be possessed by a sinister spirit. Also with Ralph Ineson, Anjali Jay, Oliver Rice and Natalie Moon. Directed by William Brent Bell. [Running Time: 1:26]

Brahms: The Boy II SEX/NUDITY 1

 – A weathered stone yard statue of a woman is shown with one bare breast visible. A woman wears a long opaque pajama set under which we can see the lines of a bra and underwear.
► A wife lies in bed next to her husband in several scenes (both are fully clothed. A husband and his wife hug each other briefly.

Brahms: The Boy II VIOLENCE/GORE 5

 – We see the silhouette of a large man in a house at night as he and another man come into the light and grab a woman (the men wear ski masks): one man throws a young boy to the floor and the boy cries, and the woman punches the other man several times until the first man strikes her in the head with a metal object and she falls unconscious (no blood or bruises are seen).
► A woman with a shotgun goes into an abandoned mansion to find her son wearing a doll mask and holding a doll; the boy picks up the gun and points it at his mother and threatens to kill her until a man enters with a croquet mallet and smashes the doll’s head (we see the doll broken on the floor and it sits up by itself with what looks like raw meat and third degree burns on its head and one glowing eye); another man enters, babbles maniacally and levitates as lights flicker and things shake as if in an earthquake, and flames from an incinerator explode into the room slamming the second man into a wall (he crumples, dead). As three children argue and struggle, a boy falls backward onto a broken and pointed wooden stake in the ground and is impaled; he screams for many seconds as we see the stake penetrate his back and shoulder (we see some blood) and two men place him in a car and take him away, still screaming (we do not see him again).
► A man finds his dog lying dead in the woods, largely covered in mud and what may be caked blood. A woman searches a doll’s serial number on the internet and finds news reports of horrible murders associated with the doll over many decades; we see photos of two children lying face down (likely dead), and of a body on a floor under a bedspread that appears covered with large dark spots of dried blood. A flashback shows a man and a woman as they walk into the sea and commit suicide by drowning. We hear that an 8-year-old girl used to visit a boy and was one day found dead, while the boy began living inside the walls of his house.
► A woman has a nightmare of a man choking her and lifting her into the air by the throat as the camera cuts to the woman gasping awake in bed. A woman dreams of her young son wearing a doll mask and she wakes up gasping. A young boy stops talking after a home invasion and he communicates by writing on sketchpad pages. A boy will not talk to humans and we see him shut himself into his bedroom with a large doll (he does talk to the doll).
► A woman is confronted by a man with a shotgun and they argue; he babbles about a doll being alive and she tosses a beverage into his face, and then punches him unconscious (there are no marks or bruising) and takes the gun. A doll is thrown into an incinerator and we see flames burning it, and it looks as if it is beginning to melt.
► A woman looks for her preteen son in an abandoned mansion, she walks upstairs and finds a small door to a dusty passage, she enters and the door slams shut behind her; she climbs a ladder and finds a large doll sitting on the edge of a made up bed in a very dusty room and a boy steps out from behind a door wearing a mask that looks like a doll. Smashing sounds occur off-screen and a woman enters a dining room to find her young son standing beside an upturned table and broken chairs; the boy writes in a notebook that the woman made his doll mad (resulting in the damage).
► A preteen boy digs up a buried life sized doll and gradually seems to become obsessed with it as if it were alive; the doll’s eyes and head move by themselves several times, the boy becomes increasingly sullen and writes out a list of rules in a sketch book for his family that seems to be from the doll, he draws outlines of dead human figures with spots of blood on their chest, a dead dog lying in blood, and a man stabbing a body on a floor that has a spot of blood on the chest. A woman looks through her son’s sketchbook with concern, finding messages that say, “They can’t take me away from you,” “They’ll be sorry,” and, “I will get you” until the boy enters the room and scowls at her and she leaves. A preteen boy startles his mother several times, making her jump. A woman finds a ripped up teddy bear that her son used to like and she hides the kitchen knives. A boy takes a doll mask out of his closet and puts it on, talking to himself in a mirror (the scene implies that a destroyed doll transferred a demon into the boy). A TV turns itself on and the woman finds the remote control beside a doll; the doll leaves the couch and locks itself into a bedroom alone and the woman stares at the room when the door finally opens (the scene becomes blurry and ends).
► A husband and his wife argue. Two men and a woman look for a preteen boy in woods, shouting. A woman shouts, “Boo!” at a doll that does not react. A woman finds a doll in a bedroom that has skeletons and marionettes painted on the walls, its eyes glow white and moths swarm out of its gaping mouth as she yells in alarm. A small swarm of bats chases a woman through a hallway. A woman makes her son leave a doll outside their house and he tells her that it won’t let him go and will kill his parents and him.
► A groundskeeper on an estate carries a shotgun in many scenes; in two scenes, his dog growls at a doll and at an old mansion it barks at a woman in the woods and she screams (the dog does not harm her). A husband, his wife and their preteen son travel to an old mansion and move into the guesthouse; the atmosphere is eerie and a few times we hear ominous music, footsteps off-screen, screeches, and a whining child’s voice off-screen; the mansion is full of plastic tarps, we see a painting of a couple and their young son.

Brahms: The Boy II LANGUAGE 3

 – 2 scatological terms, 4 mild obscenities, name-calling (mental, crazy, Crazy Joe, weird, knocker), exclamations (oh goodness, shut-up), 2 religious exclamations (e.g. Oh My God, Christ). | profanity glossary |

Brahms: The Boy II SUBSTANCE USE

 – Two women sip glasses of wine, a man and a woman at dinner sips water from wine glasses, a man and woman are shown with glasses of wine (they do not drink), a bottle of wine is seen on a table, and two carafes of wine are seen on a side table.

Brahms: The Boy II DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Muggings, protecting children, fear of dolls, animated dolls, devil possession, imaginary friends, anger, rage, death, murder, secrets, mental illness, denial, loss, revenge, control, relationships, survival.

Brahms: The Boy II MESSAGE

 – Children must be protected from many things, including the paranormal.