Rosy cheeks and eyes that never blink set the mood for “The Boy,” a horror movie that tells the story of Brahms, a four foot tall boy with perfectly trimmed bangs who wears slacks and a tie over his porcelain skin.

In short, Brahms is a doll, but his parents pamper him as if he is the child they lost years ago. After twenty years of being dressed, fed, and kissed goodnight, his parents are in need of a vacation and hire a nanny named Gretta to care for Brahms.

The first hour is a tad inert, for the only action was seeing the doll in a slightly different location and some faint footsteps. While there are cheap scares such as a disappearing item or child’s whimper heard through the walls, a shiver cannot help but crawl up my spine.

As Gretta begins to believe the doll is somehow living, I slowly go mad right alongside her. I cringe at the sight of every goodnight kiss and sweet words said to her new glass friend. It has enough scares to satisfy the needs of horror-movie lovers, and any negative aspects of the film are saved by a twist towards the end.

Though it starts as another “Chucky” knock-off, director William Brent Bell does a marvelous job of turning an awkward, run-of-the-mill doll movie into a mind-boggling masterpiece.