The Boy(2015)
2015 · Craig William Macneill · 105 min
An intimate portrait of a 9 year old sociopath as he discovers his taste for killing.
Drama · Horror · Thriller
5.8223 votes
TMDB score
3/5
Intensity
1/5
Gore
4/5
Stays with you
How scary is The Boy?
It opens slow and stays slow, easing you into a quiet, isolated setting before letting a much darker mood creep in over the runtime. There's almost no violence shown on screen; the fear comes from watching small, unsettling behavior build into something you can't look away from. It plays more like a tense character study than a traditional horror movie, with dread that builds through discomfort rather than shocks. This one sits with you afterward more than it scares you in the moment, and it's better suited to viewers who like slow, uneasy dramas than people looking for thrills.
On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, The Boy rates psychological 5/5, visceral 2/5, gore 1/5, lingering effect 4/5, and overall intensity 3/5.
- Psychological: 5 of 5
- Visceral: 2 of 5
- Gore: 1 of 5
- Lingering: 4 of 5
- Intensity: 3 of 5
Slow burn vs Jump scares: 8 of 100 — leans Slow burn
Supernatural vs Real-world: 92 of 100 — leans Real-world
Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 78 of 100 — leans Disturbing
Intensity over runtime
Shape only — no eventsReveal pacing shapeHide pacing shapeHidden by default — shows where the tension peaks and lets up.
A slow, quiet character study that lets its unease creep up gradually before tightening into a more unsettling final stretch.
Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4.
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