Brahms: The Boy II Debuts With Devastating Rotten Tomatoes Score

Landing in theaters this weekend is Brahms: The Boy II, which has earned a number of strikes against it from horror fans before it even got a chance to be seen. The film is a sequel to an under-seen movie, it earned multiple release date delays, it earned a PG-13 rating, it wasn’t screened in advance for critics, and it opens in the early months of the year, all of which are often indicators to audiences that a film might not be exceptional. Now that the film is in theaters and critics have published reviews, all of those fears were apparently warranted, as it sits at 6% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

The film currently only has 17 critical reviews, which isn’t enough for the site to give it a consensus, but with only one of those reviews being positive, things don’t look good for the sequel. The positive review comes from Eddie Harrison at The List, rating it a 3 out of 5, while detailing, “Without any notably tense or memorable sequences, The Boy II manages to creep audiences out in this traditional fashion; horror aficionados, at least, should enjoy the ancient yet effective tactics employed here.”

The negative reviews of the film, however, are a little bit more passionate and a little bit more ruthless.

William Bibbiani at TheWrap notes, “The film has no suspense, wit, or shock value. It’s too ploddingly paced to elicit a proper jump scare, and it’s nowhere near insightful enough to get under the skin. The only thing interesting about this disappointing follow-up is how it takes the original film down with it, retroactively hurting the chances of The Boy becoming a beloved cult classic.”

Meagan Navarro at Bloody Disgusting reveals, “The plot beats and scares all feel stale. The horror plays much too safe. The idea of giving audiences exactly what they thought they were getting in the first film seems smart on paper, but this sequel is too afraid to take any real risks. Brahms might have made for a fun playdate before, but his game has become all too predictable.

Horror fans have had an interesting year so far, as films like The Grudge (20%), The Turning (12%), and Fantasy Island (10%) all earned abysmal scores on the aggregator site, while The Color Out of Space (85%) and The Lodge (71%) are earning strong reviews, and with releases like The Invisible Man and A Quiet Place Part II right around the corner, both of which come from strong genre pedigrees.

Brahms: The Boy II is in theaters now.

Are you surprised the movie got such poor reviews? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!