Movie review - Pretty Boy

Pretty Boy ** (out of 5) Psycho slasher flicks are hard to predict on the degree of enjoyment scale. Some viewers only care about the gore level. Others look more for novelty in the methods of dispatch; others seek more in the plot and character vein to understand the whys of the situation. This one is pretty good on the first two, but weak on the third. What I didn’t know before watching was that this 2021 movie is a sequel, picking up right after the events of 2019’s Blind. I then watched it, too, and probably would have liked this one better if I’d seen them in the correct order. But not by all that much.

The eponymous masked murderer has a fixation on a blinded former starlet (Sarah French). As this one opens, he’s schlepping her body around Hollywood Hills for reasons I still don’t understand when he comes across a Valentine’s Day party at someone’s home, and starts killing those folks. We learn a bit about them, but not enough to care who might survive. Despite his lack of dialog, we also learn more of Pretty Boy’s backstory, which is suitably sordid, if not fully credible. Gore junkies will be more satisfied by the sights and sounds of the slaughter, including plenty of blood and a few unique methods of offing the co-stars. The body count is higher and more visceral than in Blind. Other plot and character details matter little.

Now that you know what to expect, make your own decision on which parts of the genre you find most motivating, and choose accordingly. That’s the best non-spoiler advice I can offer.

(Pretty Boy is available On Demand and on Digital platforms as of 5/27/25)