Lauren Cohan stars in a scene from the movie "The Boy." The Catholic News Service classification is A-III -- adults. (CNS/STX Productions)

By Catholic News Service

On the rebound from an abusive relationship with her boyfriend (Ben Robson), a young Montana woman (Lauren Cohan) takes a job as a nanny at a remote British mansion only to find that her charge is a spooky porcelain doll her elderly employers (Jim Norton and Diana Hardcastle) have substituted for their deceased son, insisting she treat it — as they do — exactly like a real child. When the couple departs for a vacation soon afterward, the au pair initially ignores the eerie figurine, but finds her neglect gives rise to uncanny events. Offering her guidance, comfort and eventually love is her sole human contact, the local grocer’s clerk (Rupert Evans).

Little blood is spilled in director William Brent Bell’s remix of familiar horror ingredients. Yet the youthful duo’s attempt at a bedroom get-together, along with the odd tawdry term in the dialogue, makes this efficient chiller safest for grownups.

Considerable violence with brief gore, nongraphic premarital sexual activity, occasional profane and crude language.

The Catholic News Service classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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