Watched this from the telly without any prior knowledge. Looked interesting in the trailer and i had never heard of it. Rockwell and Farmiga are quite capable actors, so why not.
The movie was being marketed as a horror movie, the week before they showed 28 Weeks Later, so I was expecting something a bit more horrorish, but this turned out to be more of a psychological thriller and drama. Which isn't a bad thing tho, but for some reason I got the impression from the ads that this was kind of a modern Damien thing. Not really.
Root down, this movie could've been a study of how kids act when the family gets another baby. Joshua here becomes a big brother and they have many scenes where they clearly show that the new baby gets more attention than Joshua. On the otherhand Joshua is said to have been a "difficult" one from the beginning. There is also a hint that there is some mental illness in the family as the mother played by Vera Farmiga has mental issues.
The mental illness part and becoming a bigger brother would've been enough for me, but they also clearly show that Joshua is getting quite a free upbringing as they let him go by his own in a big city. I'm quite sure this is an intentional choice as they discuss it at one point. Then there is this idea that Joshuas dad (Sam Rockwell) maybe wants Joshua to be a bit different. The dad is clearly a "buddy" kind of man. Even tho he's obviously smart and well educated - working in finance - he likes sports and most likely listens to some kind of pop/rock on his iPod and jams along. Joshua on the otherhand is booksmart, not interested in sports and so on..
Oh, and then there's even an overly religious grand mother, which adds the religion factor you have come to expect in a movie like this, but which in my opinion wasn't needed at all.
During the movie, Joshua is shown to do all kinds of weird things making his parents crazy and you're not really sure if he's the devil himself incarnated or just a messed up kid. Or just a different kind of kid pushing his boundaries.
I'm gonna give the ending away, so stop reading now if you don't want to know it. In the end it seems as if Joshua played the whole thing to be able to be with his uncle who is a bit like Joshua - not necessarily like the others in society. So in the end it seems as if Joshua was the smart one, just not getting along with his parents at all. Sort of a mismatch of parents and their child.
I'm not quite sure what to make of this movie, since it had so many things going on. Clues, explanations, hints of supernatural stuff, religion, mental illness.. none of them really paying off.
It's not The Omen, not The Exorcist, not Rosemary's Baby.. for sure. It was an interesting take on "a child genius", dressed up as a thriller, even a bit horrorish at times. It's rather good, but don't expect it to be a full blown horror movie.
The movie was being marketed as a horror movie, the week before they showed 28 Weeks Later, so I was expecting something a bit more horrorish, but this turned out to be more of a psychological thriller and drama. Which isn't a bad thing tho, but for some reason I got the impression from the ads that this was kind of a modern Damien thing. Not really.
Root down, this movie could've been a study of how kids act when the family gets another baby. Joshua here becomes a big brother and they have many scenes where they clearly show that the new baby gets more attention than Joshua. On the otherhand Joshua is said to have been a "difficult" one from the beginning. There is also a hint that there is some mental illness in the family as the mother played by Vera Farmiga has mental issues.
The mental illness part and becoming a bigger brother would've been enough for me, but they also clearly show that Joshua is getting quite a free upbringing as they let him go by his own in a big city. I'm quite sure this is an intentional choice as they discuss it at one point. Then there is this idea that Joshuas dad (Sam Rockwell) maybe wants Joshua to be a bit different. The dad is clearly a "buddy" kind of man. Even tho he's obviously smart and well educated - working in finance - he likes sports and most likely listens to some kind of pop/rock on his iPod and jams along. Joshua on the otherhand is booksmart, not interested in sports and so on..
Oh, and then there's even an overly religious grand mother, which adds the religion factor you have come to expect in a movie like this, but which in my opinion wasn't needed at all.
During the movie, Joshua is shown to do all kinds of weird things making his parents crazy and you're not really sure if he's the devil himself incarnated or just a messed up kid. Or just a different kind of kid pushing his boundaries.
I'm gonna give the ending away, so stop reading now if you don't want to know it. In the end it seems as if Joshua played the whole thing to be able to be with his uncle who is a bit like Joshua - not necessarily like the others in society. So in the end it seems as if Joshua was the smart one, just not getting along with his parents at all. Sort of a mismatch of parents and their child.
I'm not quite sure what to make of this movie, since it had so many things going on. Clues, explanations, hints of supernatural stuff, religion, mental illness.. none of them really paying off.
It's not The Omen, not The Exorcist, not Rosemary's Baby.. for sure. It was an interesting take on "a child genius", dressed up as a thriller, even a bit horrorish at times. It's rather good, but don't expect it to be a full blown horror movie.