The Loneliest Boy in the World

Director - Martin Owen (Killers Anonymous, The Intergalactic Adventures of Max Cloud)

Starring - Max Harwood (Seagull, Everybody's Talking About Jamie), Hero Fiennes Tiffin (Cleaning Up, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince), and Susan Wokoma (Enola Holmes, The Inbetweeners 2)

Release Date - 2022

Genre - Horror/Comedy

Tagline - "They're dying to be his friend"

Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I tend to gravitate toward the odd and weird side of the genre. Extreme horror often bores me with their lack of story and underwhelming attempts at shock value. I also find most main stream films to be repetitive and unoriginal, but they do deliver some entertainment from time to time especially if you want some mindless popcorn flick. Several weeks back I received the press release for the horror comedy The Loneliest Boy in the World. The artwork and trailer put me in mind of My Boyfriend’s Back meets Office Killer. I love both of those films, so I quickly reached out to Well Go USA for a review copy. I’ve actually been sitting on the blu release for a few weeks now, but sickness has prevented me from being as productive as I should have been. 

      The film follows a young man who lived a sheltered life. He lived with his mother but after a horrific swimming accident he was left alone. A social worker assigned to him wants him to find some friends and adapt to society or risk being institutionalized. He tries to make friends with a young lady who moved into the area but finds himself coming off as too strong. He soon befriends two grave diggers who moonlight as tour guides for the cemetery. He soon learns about some of the recently deceased that found their final resting places in the same cemetery as his mother. He soon builds his own family with the recently deceased and one morning he awakens to find that they have returned to life but are still decaying. This new-found family helps him with his self-esteem and communication skills which helps him get the girl and find his own place in the world. 

      I was really fucking excited to check this one out. I love these bright suburban black comedies and horror films like My Boyfriend’s Back, Edward Scissorhands, Greener Grass, and Fido. They are a starkly contrast to what I normally get in for review. The bright colors, vibrant personalities, and unusual characters are the opposite of the films I normally review with darker and grittier tones, grounded characters, and lack of imagination. With that being said, The Loneliest Boy in the World was enjoyable for the most part, but it did have a few scenes that I struggled to finish. It was nowhere near as fun as it could have been, and the writing was a bit underwhelming. I did enjoy it, but I will not be revisiting it anytime soon. I really enjoyed the acting in this one. We have so many well written characters and amazing performances from the entire cast. The film consists of a cast from varying age ranging from children to older adults, yet everyone delivers the same quality of performances. They all work so well together, and I love the character interactions together. The story for this one is a morbid spin on a fairy tale of sorts that takes liberties at times without giving the viewer any form of explanation. I liked the quirkiness of the story and how light hearted it is but the comedy never finds it’s mark, a few of the scenes feel out of place or tossed in after the fact, and the movie never answers the big question as to why the dead reanimate. Hell, if it did it did it in such a way that I never saw or heard. I liked the Office Killer aspect of the film with him taking the dead to his home to make his own friends and family but I would have really enjoyed an explanation about the dead coming back to life and a better ending than we received. Finally, the film has plenty of amazing make-up effects and one really enjoyable death scene. The practical effects are top notch and I loved the way the dead progressively decayed from scene to scene. However, the CGI was absolute garbage. The Chupacabra from Blood of the Chupacabras looked better than that poor dead dog. Overall, The Loneliest Boy in the World was a solid film for a first time watch but it has plenty of it’s own flaws. The writing misses it’s mark a majority of the time and the story needs more explanation. I really enjoyed it but I expect a good portion of the community will not. Regardless, if Greener Grass and My Boyfriend’s Back something you enjoyed then I highly suggest this one.