Brahms: The Boy 2 Ending Explained

WARNING! Spoilers for Brahms: The Boy II ahead.

Brahms: The Boy II, the unexpected sequel to 2016’s sleeper hit, The Boy, is now upon audiences and it contains some rather massive twists that aren’t just huge surprises, but retroactively change events from the first film.

Evil dolls have always been a fascinating sub-genre of horror films and even though they may not be as popular as vampires or zombies, they’ve maintained a presence through every decade and never completely left the public consciousness. When horror aficionados think of top tier killer dolls, it’s usually Annabelle or Chucky from Child’s Play that comes to mind, but both The Boy and its sequel, Brahms: The Boy II, make a strong case for why Brahms is also an accomplished tiny terror.

Brahms: The Boy II is an interesting case of a sequel that attempts to add to its existing mythology, but also massage it into something different, while also work as a standalone sequel of sorts. The sequel looks at how the mysterious Brahms doll slowly infects a new family who are vulnerable from a recent crisis. As the young son in the family, Jude, forms an unhealthy friendship with the doll, he begins to adopt disturbing behavior. The events of Brahms: The Boy II go to some rather crazy places, so here’s a helpful breakdown of the evils at hand and what exactly happens.

Is Brahms A Human Or A Possessed Doll?

The big reveal at the end of the original The Boy reveals that Brahms is actually a living person who’s grown up inside the walls of the house and the creepy doll is more or less misdirection for the troubled orphan’s actions. Brahms: The Boy II goes in the opposite direction with the series and while the audience may suspect the real-life Brahms to reappear, this time the danger actually does lie in the Brahms doll.

Liza (Katie Holmes), Jude’s mother, does research into the history of the Brahms doll and she learns that the doll has accompanied a long string of murders where children kill their parents. She also discovers that a demonic curse accompanies the doll and it possesses susceptible children to not only do its bidding, but hopefully become the new host of its spirit. In this sense, Brahms: The Boy II tries to explain the actions of the first film as a result of this curse and retroactively blame the doll for the real Brahms’ actions.

The Real Meaning Of Brahms: The Boy II’s Ending

It’s fascinating to see Brahms: The Boy II take such pivots with the series since the same director, William Brent Bell, is behind both films. The decision doesn’t really pay off, but it does keep the audience on their toes. The final act of the film involves the Brahms doll being destroyed and a much more demonic and rotten version of Brahms lying beneath the pristine porcelain demeanor. This releases the evil spirit, but the family still manages to defeat it. It’s not until the concluding moments that the happy ending is removed and Jude puts on Brahms’ porcelain mask. It appears that the spirit has successfully possessed him after all. With the Brahms doll now destroyed, it looks like any future sequel to Brahms: The Boy II will explore how this evil deals with finally having a new human host and not being restricted to a porcelain prison.

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