THE PRODIGY
Home is where the hoary is…
The most evil child since dep ed Matt was a nipper.
From its Exorcist-ish title design to some nasty business involving babysitters, this solidly played but humdrum homefront horror never breaches the confines of the little-monster sub-genre nursery. Director Nicholas McCarthy (The Pact) milks a script by horror pro Jeff Buhler for some effective scares, but the route there is strewn with creaky bad-seed clichés. And some fairly hopeless displays of parental discipline.
Taylor Schilling (Orange Is The New Black) generates persuasive shows of mounting panic as new mum Sarah, wife to Peter Mooney’s John. By the time their son Miles (a decently unnerving Jackson Robert Scott, It’s Georgie) hits eight, he’s rung alarm bells for his rapid development and propensity for, er, wrenching violence. And he likes paprika. Could a Hungarian spice-loving psycho be lurking behind Miles’ dead-eyed stare?
Could be, but any sense of mystery is compromised by a giveaway prologue involving a gunned-down Hungarian psycho. As the awkward bulletpoint plotting stutters from nappies to nightmares, a waiting game
unfolds to see how long it takes the parents to see the light (their house is perpetually gloomy) and do something about Miles. Some solid jump-shocks nudge them into action, but it takes ages even with the help of basic diagnostic exposition from Colm Feore’s hypnotherapist. When they realise what’s up, their reactions range from laughably useless to flatly unbelievable. Either way, this prodigy needed a firmer hand to reach its potential. Kevin Harley
THE VERDICT
Despite the cast’s efforts, McCarthy’s hell-spawn variant is an all-round under-achiever.