This Week, Watch the Most Underrated Horror Movie of 2016 – GQ Magazine

Put that free month of Showtime to good use.

In addition to the weird, wonderful Twin Peaks revival series, Showtime also offers up a great selection of on-demand movies, a lot of them impressive genre offerings that even Netflix or HBO can't match: The Bobcat Goldthwait found-footage horror Willow Creek is an exercise in ceaseless dread, and making something supposedly silly seem extremely scary (that's all I'll say). The Ruins is a mid-2000s body horror that is neither exploitative or boring, if you can believe it.

The real horror standout available, though, is William Brent Bell's 2016 haunted house movie, The Boy. Yeah, that one where the babysitter has to look after a creepy doll that a mysterious old couple insists is their son. The one that was released in January, the month where bad studio misfires are swept under the rug. The one that currently boasts a 27% on Rotten Tomatoes. A humbling reminder that even RT can be hopelessly wrong sometimes.

Look, The Boy isn't a masterpiece. The acting is shaky, the script hits all the beats it needs to without doing anything that interesting, and, lest we forget, it's about a fucking puppet being treated like a good little fancy English toddler. What elevates The Boy, and even serves to forgive some of the acting and writing, is Brent Bell's direction, and cinematographer Daniel Pearl's camera work. This movie is GORGEOUS. The huge countryside mansion feels as claustrophobic or as helplessly sprawling as it needs to, scene by scene. They also lean HARD into the pulpy tone needed to make such a ridiculous premise work; the poorly sketched-out history of the main character, Greta Evans (The Walking Dead breakout star Lauren Cohan) actually helps, since a more ambitious approach to her tragic, abusive history back home would lead to a lot of uncomfortable unpacking of the film's commentary on various power dynamics. Instead, the by-the-numbers writing kind of helps the rest of this silly, fun film succeed on its own terms.

Of course, a lot of your enjoyment of this film will depend on your reaction to/acceptance of the final act, which to me is bonkers, hilarious, and thrilling. I can honestly say I haven't been as surprised by a wide-release PG-13 horror movie... ever. If you're lucky enough to be going into The Boy without knowing its more outrageous twists and turns, you're in for a treat. If you already know the deal, you sure as hell will have fun seeing how they get there. And if you've seen it before, to hell with it, see it again. You've got six days until Twin Peaks comes backwhat else are you gonna do?

This Week, Watch the Most Underrated Horror Movie of 2016 – GQ Magazine

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