Sophie0796
Well I wouldn't say this is the most thrilling film to ever be seen, nor the most horrific of horrors, but the certain cold chill that frames the whole unwinding story makes it truly intriguing. Joshua, the nine year old perfect son, that every parent could wish for passes through at the start of this film. He's a smart, obedient, piano playing, but somehow odd child. The family is happy, and well together. Once the newborn Lily arrives, you see from Joshua how much he resents her, but in some way he shows love to her. What made the first scenes right till the end very chilling and unpredictable, was the lack of speech from Jousha. This in my opinion made the movie much better. Once we begin to see how different this child is, due to what we never really understand. At school he exceeds in excellence, he plays the piano with such perfection. And as we gather he is a dark spirited child, portrayed by the other characters speech. Josha plays dark, death signing songs on the piano, noticed by the mother in law. He does not share a close proximity of a relationship with his father, and his mother never sees the interest. Their the kind of family that from a picture looks perfect, but when seen in action their flaws unwind. As the story unravels, we are lead to believe that the death of Innocent animals is due to Joshua, and the constant crying from baby Lily steers the poor mother to insanity, the father is left to leave his job and take the care. A few exceptionally chilling scenes for me and well thought out, from such a devious little boy, were the glass scene and the pram scene. When the glass breaks in the kitchen, Josha moves back, as knowing his mother will reach for him, she treads forward and of course as established on to glass, cutting a deep serge into her foot, which is the next step of her breakdown. However, we cannot say whether the child here is all to blame. One thing that really disturbed me, was when she began to smear blood up her legs and talk about her "sexy red boots" that to me really gave you that feeling that she was maybe even more "Mucked Up" that him, hence her illness. The pram scene was dramatic and we all knew what was coming, but i do believe that Joshua never intended to hurt Lily, he didn't exactly hurry to push her down a flight of stairs, he merely strolled outside and he knew that the mother in law was running behind, and of course i do think he knew the father was watching. I think that this was his intentional plan, to have the people watch, until he finally targeted the opinionated mother in law, and she is next into the coffin. What seemed obscene to me, was how little feeling the characters showed, when his mother was pushed (or so we assume) the father, did not show any emotion he merely clung to Lily and although we could see his hurt he did no show any signs of anger. However once with Joshua i saw the true side of his father that Joshua had been waiting to release. "I know what your doing Joshua, Im on to you," to me really made it seem as though they were battling men, not a nine year old son with his mental driving father. Over the film so many varied thrills happen, some leading to nothing and others leading to tragic breakdowns. The abuse scene with Joshua and his father really shocked me, i saw his fathers anger but he really went for it, with Joshua's evil mimics, shown several times over the film (e.g. when the dog died, he mimicked his fathers sadness) and when he was climbing and he repeated his father, he knew just how to push his buttons. Once the father had lost his temper what really gave it that final blow for me was the small sly smile that formed on Joshua's lips, he seemed happy, he had finally managed to make his family fall apart, and his father to reveal everything. This was a very well thought film, with similar story lines of older films, however this one had s more certain chill, less horror and more, dark edge. The final points to assume, were the way that Lily was never harmed, she in the viewers eyes was the reason for Joshua's dislike, however he never hurt her, or harmed her. Also the relationship with his uncle was mysterious and odd, he loved his uncle a lot more that he you saw with his parents, they shared a bond for music, both piano genius', whereas his dad was a pop music headphone listening kinda guy. At the end when Joshua sung a song as he and his uncle played a song, he said "this feels right doesn't it? how it should have been?" you get the feeling hes referring to it should be him as his father. As earlier he stated when his was in room to his dad, "do you ever feel weird about me?" we sense that Joshua did towards him, but never towards his uncle. A dark bond i never assumed to happen, but a very wicked ending with everything out of place.Overall a good film, watch if your mature enough to understand the true depth of this film, and see Joshua as he begins to dismantle his family.
PhantomAgony
I did not enjoy the film, Joshua, at all. Perhaps it is because I saw another, much better similar film titled Orphan 2 days prior but perhaps it's really just because this film was not very good. I am going with the ladder. Sure, the plot of an evil child is not exactly original but that doesn't mean the film could not succeed. It could have been suspenseful and entertaining and chilling but instead it was slow building, boring, uneventful and really didn't leave me thinking anything more than 'that wasn't very good' when it was all over.At the end, Joshua's motivations are revealed. I won't give that away but the reality is that he didn't really accomplish his goals since despite Vera Farmiga as his mother, Abby, disappearing about 3/4th through the movie, all arrows point to her returning home soon. She was committed to a mental institution because she was losing her mind but then Joshua's Father/Her husband was accused of tampering with her medication which tells the audience that the institution realized that she was indeed not mentally ill but rather was being dosed medically. So.. shouldn't she be coming home soon? Won't Joshua have failed? Won't his Mother be living with him and his sister and possibly his Father soon? I question the Father since his future is left open ended.At the end of the day, I didn't care about the characters. The evil demon child Joshua wasn't really scary. The storyline moved slowly and when it picked up it was still boring. Suspense fell flat every single time. When it was over I couldn't believe I had sat through the whole thing. 4/10 just because the acting was good from the parents especially Vera Farmiga as the Mother but if you want to see a movie about an evil 'child' go see Orphan. Now that's a movie that took an unoriginal concept and created a brilliant movie.
paul david
sorry folks, second film in 24 hours which fails for me and ihave watched this a couple of times now. I even watched it again after reading some of these reviews in case I missed something. Don't think so. Yes good acting by Sam Rockwell and a touching concept about a disturbed child (certainly no genius)who is jealous and affected by the birth of his baby sister. Sure, it touches on middle class issues and indeed on issues on how parent and child 'might' feel in such a situation, but hey, please don't compare it with 'Don't Look Now', this film doesn't even come close in comparison for intrigue acting drama thrills or suspense. overall it is a disappointing film,not carrying enough punch for me. didn't know what to expect beforehand, so I was open minded, but this is no horror movie and it falls short on psychological thriller. At best, its an overplayed drama which has a very slow start and if you make it to the hour mark without falling asleep, you are doing well. Only watched it a third time and in breaks from the DVD because curious so many people liked this movie. Don't agree that its a movie to make you think (ponder maybe) but not for long, an easily forgotten movie, even if you have a child of your own who has been even slightly rebellious to you in your parenting of him to relate to questions raised by this movie
