A review by Brooks Rich
February is a bit of a dump month for film. Save for romantic comedies and dramas doing well for Valentine's Day, it's not the strong month for the film business. I usually worry if a horror movie is released at this time because those should usually be saved for the fall where most horror films will do fairly well. I thought The Prodigy looked intriguing from it's trailers, if not familiar, but was worried about the early year release date. I was genuinely surprised when I saw this. I love this film.
The Prodigy tells the story of Miles, an eight-year-old boy developing beyond his years but with major social problems. That's all I want to say without giving away spoilers. Let's just say it's more than just bad behavior on Miles part. The tagline of this movie is "What's Wrong with Miles?"
This film does feel familiar. We've seen the evil child in movies countless times. The big one of course is The Omen but there's also Village of the Damned, The Bad Seed, and Children of the Corn. But being familiar isn't always a bad thing. Especially if the film is well made, which The Prodigy is. Director Nicholas McCarthy has a good visual eye and knows how to establish a feeling of dread without being too flashy. The film is a slow build and earns the one or two jump scares it has. It's early moments is more of the dreading something scare, the anticipation leading up to the big shock moment. There is one big jump scare that is going to be effective to people who haven't seen it in the trailer. Horror films really need to stop showing the best jump scares in the trailer.
The acting in this film is above and beyond for an early year horror release especially from Jackson Robert Scott, who plays Miles, and who some will remember as having his arm ripped off by Pennywise in the IT remake. This kid carries the movie and without his very innocent and also chilling performance this doesn't work at all and the film is a failure. Full props to this young actor and to Taylor Schilling who plays the poor put upon mother. The two have good chemistry and our two main performances. Everyone else is good but these two are the standouts, especially Scott.
This is a film to check out if you are into horror movies and thrillers. It is very dark and has some very disturbing violence that is effective and helps the climax get over a couple of hurdles. The climax feels very similar to one from another film but in this kind of story where can you go really. Another complaint I have is that the film plays it's hand a little too early but it gets by that by being interesting. Overall this film works, again a lot of that is owed to Jackson Robert Scott's performance, and it's a nice surprise in the doldrums of the start of the film year.
Rating: 4/5
February is a bit of a dump month for film. Save for romantic comedies and dramas doing well for Valentine's Day, it's not the strong month for the film business. I usually worry if a horror movie is released at this time because those should usually be saved for the fall where most horror films will do fairly well. I thought The Prodigy looked intriguing from it's trailers, if not familiar, but was worried about the early year release date. I was genuinely surprised when I saw this. I love this film.
The Prodigy tells the story of Miles, an eight-year-old boy developing beyond his years but with major social problems. That's all I want to say without giving away spoilers. Let's just say it's more than just bad behavior on Miles part. The tagline of this movie is "What's Wrong with Miles?"
This film does feel familiar. We've seen the evil child in movies countless times. The big one of course is The Omen but there's also Village of the Damned, The Bad Seed, and Children of the Corn. But being familiar isn't always a bad thing. Especially if the film is well made, which The Prodigy is. Director Nicholas McCarthy has a good visual eye and knows how to establish a feeling of dread without being too flashy. The film is a slow build and earns the one or two jump scares it has. It's early moments is more of the dreading something scare, the anticipation leading up to the big shock moment. There is one big jump scare that is going to be effective to people who haven't seen it in the trailer. Horror films really need to stop showing the best jump scares in the trailer.
The acting in this film is above and beyond for an early year horror release especially from Jackson Robert Scott, who plays Miles, and who some will remember as having his arm ripped off by Pennywise in the IT remake. This kid carries the movie and without his very innocent and also chilling performance this doesn't work at all and the film is a failure. Full props to this young actor and to Taylor Schilling who plays the poor put upon mother. The two have good chemistry and our two main performances. Everyone else is good but these two are the standouts, especially Scott.
This is a film to check out if you are into horror movies and thrillers. It is very dark and has some very disturbing violence that is effective and helps the climax get over a couple of hurdles. The climax feels very similar to one from another film but in this kind of story where can you go really. Another complaint I have is that the film plays it's hand a little too early but it gets by that by being interesting. Overall this film works, again a lot of that is owed to Jackson Robert Scott's performance, and it's a nice surprise in the doldrums of the start of the film year.
Rating: 4/5
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