Stars: Taylor Schilling, Jackson Robert Scott, Peter Mooney, Brittany Allen, Colm Feore | Written by Jeff Buhler | Directed by Nicholas McCarthy
The third horror film from director Nicholas McCarthy, The Prodigy is an entry in the creepy kid genre typified by the likes of Orphan (2009) and Joshua (2007), aka The Devil’s Child. As such it’s something of a mixed bag, delivering a handful of genuinely nasty moments, but let down by a frustrating script that completely ignores the premise implied in the title.
Taylor Schilling (Orange Is The New Black) and Peter Mooney play Sarah and John Blume, a middle-class Pennysylvania couple whose longed-for child is born at the exact same moment that police shoot and kill Hungarian-speaking serial killer Edward Scarka (Paul Fauteux) in nearby Ohio. Eight years later, their young son Miles (Jackson Robert Scott) is attending school for gifted children, after having grown up with an unusually high Iq,...
The third horror film from director Nicholas McCarthy, The Prodigy is an entry in the creepy kid genre typified by the likes of Orphan (2009) and Joshua (2007), aka The Devil’s Child. As such it’s something of a mixed bag, delivering a handful of genuinely nasty moments, but let down by a frustrating script that completely ignores the premise implied in the title.
Taylor Schilling (Orange Is The New Black) and Peter Mooney play Sarah and John Blume, a middle-class Pennysylvania couple whose longed-for child is born at the exact same moment that police shoot and kill Hungarian-speaking serial killer Edward Scarka (Paul Fauteux) in nearby Ohio. Eight years later, their young son Miles (Jackson Robert Scott) is attending school for gifted children, after having grown up with an unusually high Iq,...
- 3/15/2019
- by Matthew Turner
- Nerdly
There’s no shortage of films about evil children, so at the risk of indulging in hyperbole, let’s just say Nicholas McCarthy’s “The Prodigy” is the latest. If the idea of a serial-killing pre-teen terrifies you, this film might give off some shivers, but “The Prodigy” doesn’t add anything terribly new to the recipe. Except a little paprika. (Literally.)
Taylor Schilling stars as Sarah, a woman whose eight-year-old child Miles has heterochromia (one eye is a different color than the other), and a genius-level intelligence. He also has a nasty tendency to beat his fellow students with a wrench. There’s something terribly wrong with Miles, but Sarah just can’t figure out what it is.
The audience, however, knows exactly what’s wrong from the film’s opening minutes. Miles was born at the exact same time as a despicable serial killer, Edward Scarka, was shot dead by the police.
Taylor Schilling stars as Sarah, a woman whose eight-year-old child Miles has heterochromia (one eye is a different color than the other), and a genius-level intelligence. He also has a nasty tendency to beat his fellow students with a wrench. There’s something terribly wrong with Miles, but Sarah just can’t figure out what it is.
The audience, however, knows exactly what’s wrong from the film’s opening minutes. Miles was born at the exact same time as a despicable serial killer, Edward Scarka, was shot dead by the police.
- 2/6/2019
- by William Bibbiani
- The Wrap
It’s not the Devil that’s taken hold of young Miles Bloom, and that’s hardly a spoiler for director Nicholas McCarthy’s gruesome “The Prodigy,” which uses its opening minutes to introduce a new idea to the “possessed kid” horror subgenre and then keeps twisting it into some unexpected shapes — if not the most artful ones. The title hasn’t even come up before a pair of seemingly disparate subplots dovetail into one, as a much-wanted baby is born just as a psychotic killer is gunned down by police. And there’s more: “The Prodigy” isn’t compelled by subtlety. As Edward Scarka (Paul Fauteux) lays dying on the ground, pierced by multiple gunshot wounds, McCarthy cuts to baby Miles, being wiped clean of a set of blood splotches in the exact same spots on his infant chest.
Edward’s apparent involvement in Miles’ budding life originally seems like a good thing,...
Edward’s apparent involvement in Miles’ budding life originally seems like a good thing,...
- 2/6/2019
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
If we’ve learned anything from movies like “The Omen,” “The Bad Seed,” and “The Good Son,” it’s that kids can be little demons. Director Nicholas McCarthy’s “The Prodigy” takes that concept a bit further, positing that children have the ability to carry the past lives of demonic, sociopathic souls and act on their deranged feelings. At least that’s what we glean from a brief “Nightline” clip about reincarnation shown in the film — which is possibly the clever inspiration for Jeff Buhler’s screenplay. While it lacks gripping, nail-biting tension, the unnerving horror that underscores the family drama brings it to life.
Minutes after a ruthless serial killer (Paul Fauteux) is shot to death in Ohio, a baby boy is born to a loving married couple in nearby Pennsylvania. Sarah (Taylor Schilling) and John Blume (Peter Mooney) have sacrificed a lot to bring their boy Miles (Jackson Robert Scott) into the world,...
Minutes after a ruthless serial killer (Paul Fauteux) is shot to death in Ohio, a baby boy is born to a loving married couple in nearby Pennsylvania. Sarah (Taylor Schilling) and John Blume (Peter Mooney) have sacrificed a lot to bring their boy Miles (Jackson Robert Scott) into the world,...
- 2/6/2019
- by Courtney Howard
- Variety Film + TV
Television and movie producers have a weird habit of doubling-up on big ideas, delivering two projects with more or less the same basic concept at roughly the same time. For no apparent reason, we'll get hit with a couple of "giant space rock threatens to destroy the Earth" blockbusters in the same summer; or a pair of "behind the scenes at a late-night comedy series" in the same fall TV season. So perhaps it's not that odd that FX and Netflix are about to serve up competing historical adventures, both...
- 1/21/2017
- Rollingstone.com
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