Brahms: The Boy II

Lore & Background

After a traumatic home invasion, Liza and her son Jude are left deeply shaken. Jude becomes mute, and Liza suffers from nightmares. To heal, they move to a remote estate with Sean, Liza's husband and Jude's father. While exploring the woods, Jude finds a buried doll called Brahms, which he becomes unnervingly attached to. Strange events begin happening, with Brahms seemingly influencing Jude's behavior. Jude starts speaking again, but only when alone with Brahms. Liza notices increasingly disturbing signs, including Jude writing new rules for Brahms and drawings suggesting violent tendencies. Liza grows more unsettled after a violent accident involving a visiting cousin, Will, which seems caused by Brahms. Despite her concerns, Sean and their therapist believe Brahms is helping Jude cope. Liza's suspicions deepen when she learns about the mansion's dark history and the previous family's suicide. One night, Joseph, the mansion's groundskeeper, breaks in and intends to harm Liza, claiming Brahms 'called' to him. Shortly afterwards, Jude dons a mask resembling the doll and prepares to attack Liza. Sean intervenes, smashing the doll with a mallet, which interrupts its possession of Jude. Brahms' head shatters, revealing a grotesque demonic entity inside. A fiery explosion kills Joseph, and the family believes they have destroyed Brahms for good after Jude tosses the doll into the fire. The family returns to their old home, but Jude still keeps the mask and continues to speak to it, suggesting Brahms still has control over him.

Reader's Guide

Brahms: The Boy II is significant as a sequel that failed to replicate the success of its predecessor, both critically and financially. It was panned by critics, with an 11% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and audiences gave it a CinemaScore of C−. The film grossed only $20.3 million worldwide, less than a third of the first film's gross, against a $10 million budget plus advertising costs. It marked the last film produced by Lakeshore Entertainment before the company was shut down. Despite the poor reception, director William Brent Bell stated in August 2022 that he has plans for a third installment, intending to round out the character of Brahms with a trilogy. The film's legacy is largely as a cautionary example of a poorly received sequel that underperformed at the box office, though it retains a niche audience interested in the Brahms mythology.

Did You Know?

• The film was originally scheduled for July 26, 2019, then December 6, 2019, before being released on February 21, 2020.
• Principal photography began in January 2019 and wrapped that March, with parts filmed in Victoria on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
• Katie Holmes was nominated at the Golden Raspberry Awards as Worst Actress for her appearances in this film and The Secret: Dare to Dream.

The Haunting of a Broken Family

After a violent home invasion silences their son Jude and fills his mother Liza with nightmares, the family relocates to a remote estate with father Sean, seeking healing. The fragile peace shatters when Jude uncovers a buried porcelain doll named Brahms in the surrounding woods. His obsessive attachment triggers a cascade of disturbing events: he speaks only in the doll's presence, composes new rules for it, and produces drawings suggesting violent impulses. A violent incident involving a visiting cousin intensifies Liza's alarm, yet Sean and their therapist insist Brahms is helping Jude cope. Liza's suspicions harden when she discovers the mansion's grim history—the suicide of a former family—and finds notes implying Brahms intends to harm her and Sean. The confrontation erupts when groundskeeper Joseph breaks in, claiming the doll summoned him, and Jude, wearing a Brahms mask, readies an attack on Liza. Sean smashes the doll with a mallet, exposing a grotesque entity within, and Joseph is killed in a fiery explosion. The family believes the threat is destroyed, but the final image of Jude still clutching the mask and whispering to it leaves the audience uncertain the possession has truly ended.

From Announcement to Screen

The sequel's development began in October 2018, when it was confirmed that the original film's director William Brent Bell and screenwriter Stacey Menear would return to helm and write the project. Katie Holmes was attached to reprise her role, and a team of producers—Matt Berenson, Gary Lucchesi, Tom Rosenberg, Jim Wedaa, and Eric Reid—brought the film under the Lakeshore Entertainment banner, with STX Entertainment handling production and distribution. By November 2018, the supporting cast was locked in with Christopher Convery, Ralph Ineson, and Owain Yeoman joining the ensemble. Principal photography ran from January through March 2019, with portions shot in Victoria on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The release path was anything but smooth: the film was originally slated for July 26, 2019, then pushed to December 6, 2019, before finally landing in American theaters on February 21, 2020. That final date placed it in direct competition with The Call of the Wild, Impractical Jokers: The Movie, and the wide expansion of The Lodge, a crowded landscape that would prove challenging for a horror sequel seeking its audience.

A Critical and Commercial Reckoning

Critics were largely unsympathetic. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film sits at a dismal 11 percent approval across 56 reviews, with an average score of 3.7 out of 10. The site's consensus essentially accuses the sequel of sabotaging the strengths of its predecessor. Metacritic's weighted average of 29 out of 100, drawn from 13 critics, lands squarely in the 'generally unfavorable' territory. Audiences fared little better: CinemaScore polled a C−, and PostTrak viewers awarded a mere one star out of five, with only 24 percent saying they would recommend it. Benjamin Lee of The Guardian was particularly scathing, awarding a single star and calling the film 'punishingly dull,' criticizing Stacey Menear's 'uninventive script' and Bell's direction for lacking 'even a glimmer of style.' He noted that even at a brisk 86 minutes the runtime felt endless, and singled out the finale's 'god-awful CGI.' At the box office, the numbers told a similar story: $20.3 million worldwide against a $10 million production budget plus advertising costs, a figure less than a third of the 2016 original's total. The film opened at $5.7 million in 2,151 theaters, finishing fifth, then dropped 55 percent in its second weekend to $2.6 million.

Aftermath and the Promise of a Trilogy

The film's aftermath carried consequences both personal and institutional. Katie Holmes received a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Actress, a nod shared with her work in The Secret: Dare to Dream. More significantly for the industry, Brahms: The Boy II proved to be the final release from Lakeshore Entertainment before the company was shut down, capping a brief run of productions under that banner. Yet the story did not end with the studio's closure. In August 2022, director William Brent Bell publicly revealed he had plans for a third installment, expressing a desire to complete a trilogy and fully round out the character of Brahms. He clarified that while the second film centered on the porcelain doll itself, a potential third entry would shift focus back to the supernatural entity from the original 2016 release, continuing that character's story. Bell went on to elaborate further on his ideas for future installments, suggesting the franchise's narrative arc remained unfinished in his mind. Whether those plans will materialize on screen remains to be seen, but the director's enthusiasm for a concluding chapter keeps the Brahms saga alive in the imagination of fans who hope a proper ending is still possible.