Disclaimer: What follows are specific plot details of “The Boy” The review contains spoilers regarding the movie. Do not read this review if you have not watched the movie yet, and wish to in the future.

Every year, it seems like there are one or two horror movies released in the month of January, but most of them are not very good. However, The Boy, which came out on Jan. 22, is not like most horror movies: it was actually entertaining and creepy.

The Boy stars Lauren Cohan as Greta, a young American who accepts a job as a nanny for a old English couple in a remote area of the UK. Needing money to start her new life in England, Greta expects to be taking care of an eight-year-old boy, however, to her surprise, she must care for a life-sized doll instead. After violating a strict set of rules, a series of inexplicable events brings her to believe that the doll is alive.

The Boy does an amazing job of building a creepy and frightening atmosphere from the very first scene of the movie. While most horror movies rely on cheap jump scares or graphic monsters to create fear in the audience, The Boy refrains from these horror movie clichés. The film makes a motionless doll a horrific creature that will haunt the audience’s dreams. As the film reaches its climax after building a terrifying atmosphere, it throws a huge surprise twist at the audience which just intensifies the fear.

In addition, the film develops an underlying topic as characters deal with abusive relationships and domestic abuse. The character of Greta was forced to move to England because of her abusive relationship with her boyfriend Cole. During the climax of the film, Cole shows up to forcefully take Greta back home with him. And while Cole’s abusive character was extremely cliché when it comes to playing the abusive overly controlling boyfriend, a 6’6’’ lumberjack with a grimy beard, he still serves the theme of the movie. As his character is one of two abusive relationships Greta must escape, which is what the movie is truly about.

This is what makes The Boy such a good movie, because most horror movies just want to make the audience wet their pants, while The Boy is actually attempting address the topic of abusive relationships. Overall, the film masterfully illustrates how ghost and monsters are not nearly as scary as the horror of women being taken advantage of.

The Boy is a horror film that goes beyond just scaring the audience; and though  it does that as well, it comments the modern social issue of abusive relationships and domestic abuse.

The Parkway West Pathfinder gives “The Boy” 7.0/10.