The Boy 2015

A slow-going but poignant story about a young boy - Ted - who is failed by both parents and is driven to distraction by boredom, mundane routine and loneliness whilst living in a motel in a remote part of the US.

What starts out as a simple job clearing roadkill from the road outside the motel in exchange for a dollar out of the till becomes the only thing to break the boring drudgery of everyday life for a smart but love-starved, attention-starved little boy. To this end, Ted starts getting creative, luring animals to their doom by leaving food scattered across the road, near a blind corner. Unfortunately, before long a car crashes into a deer and veers off the road. Ted and his dad rescue the driver from the wreckage, thus acquiring a customer for their otherwise empty hotel. Whether or not this was part of Ted's plan (having heard his dad arguing about finances on the phone) remains unclear, but is probable when he sabotages the car of the next set of guests to stop them leaving - although this may be because they also have a son who is about the same age as Ted. He and the boy for a friendship which further highlights Ted's loneliness, lack of social skills and need of attention and friendship. These guests do (just about) manage to leave the motel peacefully, and unscathed.

Unfortunately, the man from the deer crash turns out to be on the run, carrying a box with his dead wife's ashes in it, although he is suspected of 'cremating' her himself. After an uneasy friendship with Ted, he understandably turns nasty when Ted steals and hides the ashes. Ted cleverly deals with this problem just before a group of teens check in at the motel for the night and engage in noisy, drunken revelry. After one of the girls is left in her room, having passed out drunk, Ted sneaks in and puts his hand over her mouth to stop her breathing. As she turns over, he gets caught by the nasty teen boy who checked his group in, who suspects Ted of groping the girl, so literally hurls him out the door and starts beating him up, before being dragged off by his mates. After eventually crawling back home, all his useless father can do is yell at him for disturbing the guests, with no care whatsoever for his son's wellbeing.

This is the final straw for Ted, who's reason finally snaps, and he wreaks his vengeance in a truly horrific, merciless way, until he is the only one left alive, but with the perfect scapegoat in the form of the deer crash man, and can finally escape scot-free to live with his mother in Florida, and hopefully a better life.

Whilst the pace is slow, it's appropriate for the plot, and there is always enough going on to hold the interest, and Jared Breeze performs well as Ted. 'The Boy' probably isn't something that stands up to repeated viewing, but definitely worth watching once.