The Prodigy

When Sarah (Taylor Schilling) holds her son Miles for the first time, she is the happiest mother in the world. But soon the child is exhibiting strange behaviors that grow more extreme with each passing year. Sarah doesn't want to believe that there is something wrong with her son. She even goes to see a specialist (Colm Feore), but he assures her that there is nothing wrong with Miles. What Sarah does not suspect: the frightened man has made acquaintance with the supernatural force that has taken possession of the boy and which threatens to gradually displace his true self. Sarah has little time left to save her son - or is it already too late?

The Prodigy is the latest strike from Nicholas McCarthy, who already made a name for himself with horror fans with The Pact. Here, the director draws on a very popular motif in the genre: that of horror kids. After all, they have already made for some real classics. The Omen or The Exorcist come to mind. Kids can be scary as hell. And yes, even Jackson Robert Scott, who played little Georgie in the remake of the Stephen King classic It, can look really diabolical at the camera. It's thanks to him that you actually get some good goosebump moments here.

Other than that, at most the flat dialogue and expressionless acting from Orange is the new Black star Taylor Schilling provide some real creepiness. Despite some good ideas, it quickly becomes clear that Nicholas McCarthy is good at building a suspenseful atmosphere, but that he's just not a good storyteller. A few decent moments of suspense just aren't enough to really hook the audience. The story has to be right as well and it just moves too much on well-trodden paths here.

At least McCarthy leads the otherwise very predictable events consistently to the end. With that he keeps a door open for a possible sequel, but at the same time he can offer a really good shock moment. Of course, that's not enough to make The Prodigy a really thrilling movie that would have the makings of a modern classic. But if you can be satisfied with decent average stuff, you'll get your money's worth. With deductions this is still enough for a: Worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp