I have so many thoughts about all this! This was a wellspring of information, seriously, thank you so much @ms-edelweiss for showing me the old boy movie tumblr!
Anyway, onto my TED talk.
To start off, we have a name for Mrs. Heelshire! Margret! Woohoo!
We also find out why Brahms didn't have any friends except Emily Cribbs, he most likely had a little baby crush on her. But the fact that he tormented other kids and threatened teachers just proves there's something wrong with him, so much so that he was expelled from school. At this point he's just a bully, but could he have gotten that from his mothers upbringing? Clearly she spoiled him, as seen in the movie proper, but also in the description of "her perfect little Brahms" in the first paragraph. She scolds him saying not to hit others, as she raises a hand to strike him. Could this have been a nature vs nurture scenario or a bit of both? Was she abusive or just didn't know how to deal with her son being a brat and bully?
I dislike the wording "confirmed" when just a sentence later they say he's "believed" to be dead with no remains found. I would have used either "presumed dead" or "legally declared dead". I know confirmed can also mean legally declared dead, but it just makes it sound as if there was physical confirmation. That's just my hang up tho 🙃
Ok this one kinda punches a hole in many head cannons that the doll was made by Brahms. Days after the fire, the doll appears. It also kinda messes the time line IF we assume the movie took place in 2016 the same year the movie came out. In the movie Malcolm states the doll appeared 20 years ago and the last blurb confirms that. Which means that Brahms has to be 28 in the movie. Which would set the movie's year at 2011! Dob-1983, dod-1991. 8 years + 20 years = 28. So 28 years from 1983 = 2011.
It also punches a hole through my head cannon that the heelshires didn't force him into the walls permantly till he was about 13 but again that was my little headcannon.
It doesn't clear up whether going into the walls was Brahms or the parents idea, nor who started the fire.
What it does confirm is that mrs heelshire is a little bit nutty, literally DAYS after almost losing her real son, she orders a doll to to replace him??? Was this plan to replace him in the works for a while??? How did she find a doll maker to custom make a doll that looked just like 8 yo Brahms and have it shipped to the house in a manner of DAYS?? I call shenanigans! This kind of cements the idea that the heelshires planned to rid themselves of Brahms before he killed Emily. Emily's murder might have just moved the attempted murder of Brahms up a few weeks.
OMG this is BIG y'all! He didn't kill the other nannies! They were scared off or were fired for not taking it seriously. So either Brahms was lying or just referring to Emily and Cole when he yells "just like the others!" Half a dozen or so, so probably 7 other nannies, and I'm guessing it wasn't just when he was an adult either.
So this also kind of plays into my head cannon that the rules and I'm assuming the schedule as well was more for the nanny than Brahms. The rules, to help keep brahms hidden and taken care of and the schedule, to keep nanny busy and a timeline brahms could use to know where nanny was and when and for how long.
This movie never ceases to intrigue me!