Review of Bless the Child

What a horrible mess! How Messrs Basinger, Smits, Sewell, Ricci and Holm ended up in this half-assed excuse for a film I'm not sure, but even my profound Ricci bias cannot save my opinion of this film. Actually, I'm not being fair – the film has good things about it. So, on balance: plot – vaguely interesting Omen rip-off with a twist; cast – oddly high profile, with only Basinger seeming miscast (she's too wholesome for the part, and just didn't convince at all) and everyone dealing admirably with the clunky dialogue; effects – hmmm, file under "really-not-very-special"; direction – hmmm, file under "hey, turns out those effects were tremendous compared to the direction!" That was the real issue – lame direction. There were lots of positive elements (a semi-gruesome Se7en-esque thriller angle, the aforementioned Omen riff, Christina Ricci) but, instead of mixing and presenting these ingredients to leave us with a tasty pie, we were left with a motley collection of ingredients that didn't hang at all. Amusingly, Rufus Sewell comments on the DVD interviews that he likes this kind of film when it is done well – better luck next time, Rufus!