THE BOY [2016]

Director William Brent Bell's The Boy is yet another scary doll movie that manages to somewhat entertain amidst it's copious amounts of silliness.
An American woman travels to England to hide from her past and takes the job as a nanny in a secluded country mansion, where she finds the child she is to take care of is actually a spooky little porcelain mannequin with nice hair.
There's many a scene that elevated my heart rate as I admired the over-used but still effective atmosphere.  Unfortunately The Boy attempts to bring several interesting themes to the table but never knows how to explore them, leaving them to pointlessly wither into nothing.  The Walking Dead's Lauren Cohan does a fantastic job holding her own, as she's spends the majority of the time acting across a dummy.  It's an admirable attempt to be more than it is but in the end it's nothing more than another early year horror film buried with it's other crappy peers.

2 unnerving goodnight kisses out of 5

Asylum Blackout (2011)

I watched Asylum Blackout mostly because the poster caught my attention, and I was mostly disappointed. I think there's a really fun film hidden in here somewhere, but it's lost in a sea of torture porn, and the paper thin story does nothing to elevate it. Add an eyeroll inducing ending, and you're left with a movie that could use a good MSTing.

There are a few genuinely spooky sequences, and I think first time director Alexandre Courtès has some talent. The leads are reasonably likable and smart (for a horror movie), and while the inmates feel like stock characters, some of them are entertaining anyway. I think Courtès might make a movie I really like someday, but this isn't it.

1.5 more flayings than plot out of 5.