It turns out their whole family is screwed up, and Josh is the worst. They paint a good picture on how this kind of thing gradually occurs, as well as pointing out the "fucked up" genes from either side of the family. In case of males, it apparently skips a generation.
Hey, if this one was supposed to tug at the emotions, it succeeds in the "pissed off" area due to its dumbed down similarity with "The Omen" movie. Similar lame ending. If I were the father, that kid wouldn't have made it.
Waaaaaaaay too slow to get to the payoff but the kid was definitely creepy. In the mold of The Omen and The Bad Seed with lots laying underneath but good luck getting to the end as it takes forever! I made myself keep watching just to find out if they were ever gonna get there and what exactly was wrong with that kid. I ultimately was left unfullfilled.
It started out very attention grabbing, with the Omen-esque meets Rosemary's Baby over tones to it being undeniable. Yet it has a slightly fresh take on the notion of the "bad seed" as well. Rockwell and Farmiga are really wonderful, Rockwell is especially convincing and endearing as the father trying deperately to hold his family together. Their lives come tumbling down in an unspeakable creepy fashion, as Rockwell's character discovers the truth. But the "truth" in the end is a little too "here it is" as an explanation...too easy. It's the latter 1/4 of the film that seems to lose the momentum, also Farmiga's character seems to disappear which is a shame.
A good movie. The first time I can say that I think Sam Rockwell is attractive (only in this movie). Joshua plays the typical evil child, well kept, monotonous. The ending felt really abrupt but maybe there was a meaning to it that I was too lazy to think about.
The most chilling line in the film.. and it's the last. Thankfully going into seeing this film, my expectations weren't very high. If they had have been, I would be even more disappointed than I already am. There was nothing particularly chilling about this film, whatsoever. Sadly, to me it felt like a cheap Omen rip-off in a lot of places. It was all too familiar and maybe I've just had enough of little kids trying to be scary.
I'll give credit where credits due. Jacob Kogan that plays Joshua did play the part well. As good as the previous Damien's from the Omen series. Sam Rockwell annoyed me for the first time ever. His performance wasn't even a little bit convincing, though I did enjoy the scene where he lost it in the park with Josh. Vera Farmiga was a troll. I didn't like anything she brought to her part. From the get go I knew she was a hack when she lay on her hospital bed, holding her new born baby girl, flailing about her legs laughing about something with her hubby. It wasn't the joy that annoyed me, it was the way she moved like she hadn't just pushed an 8lb baby out. As the film went on she annoyed me more and more. Her outbursts were OTT and she wasn't at all likeable. I didn't care what Josh did to her. In fact, I was rooting for him to hurt her.
So to sum up, if you're looking for a good psychological thriller, about kids with little demons inside them, go watch The Omen. Or take 'Dr Bloods' advice (see bottom of Joshua movie page) and watch The Bad Seed instead. I haven't seen it, but I'm confident it will have more going for it than this film.
hayatimda izledigim en aptal sona sahip film. iddialiyim. tam bir zaman kaybi. filmi cekerken sanki ssenaryo yokmus gibi her gün bisi çekmisler çekmisler sonra uygun son bulamayinca bisi uyduruvermisler. güzel film izlemek istiorum.
Well Dallas Roberts plays the part of Joshua so perfectly that it makes this movie just simply uncomfortable to watch. Plus the fact that the plot of this movie is quite boring, just doesn't add up to enjoyable viewing.
Sam Rockwell is a great comedic actor and has wasted his talents here.
DVD WORTHY:
ehhhhh......
HI-DEF (Blu-Ray) WORTHY:
If you happen to see this one on the shelf at your local best-buy, just keep on movin'.
Jacob has a really nice voice. Very jazzy. Oh yeah, I hate unfulfilled endings. It's like me writing an essay -- the conclusion is nowhere to be found.
Hands down best scene is this movie is when Sam Rockwell kicks the crap out of that demon child. If that kid was mine he would have gotten a good ol fashion belt beat down in the opening credits!
I thought this was a bad movie. I couldnt believe I wasted time on it. The movie wasnt scary more just about a crazy werid kid who makes everyone crazy. It went off and I was like whattt? Dont waste time on it.
Part of the reason why I was ultimately disappointed with this movie was that I was expecting a gripping psychological horror, which only came in the second half of the movie. Before it focused on the titular character, we were treated instead to a domestic melodrama about a new baby, a depressed mother, and a bright first-born who's jealousy of his new sibling can be seen seething underneath his blank, expressionless face. And, lest we forget, the happy go-lucky father who's blind to it all.
The foreshadowing of the terror yet to come is peppered throughout it's first half, but it mostly focuses on the mother character, and the trauma her family causes her. After that's resolved in a rather chilling manner, the movie's focus shifts to Joshua, who is revealed as the cunning little monster he truly is.
Another reason why I didn't like this as much as I thought I would was because it wasn't as disturbing as I was hoping it would be.
On the plus side, the performances were fantastic from all involved, particularly Sam Rockwell as Josh's dad and Jacob Kogan as Joshua himself. The performances alone are why this is worth at least one viewing. Just don't expect anything gut-wrenching if you decide to see it. If anything, the movie feels longer than it really is.
One of the best thriller/horror movies of 2007. Very good writing and direction. If you love watching intelligent horror/thriller movies then this is definitely a must see...
"I'll give you five dollars if you let me throw a rock at you. "
.................................................
I ain't felt quite so uneasy in a movie for quite some time.
I guess this immidiatly flags up the Omen in your mind at first, but it's basically the Omen without the metaphor. You don't get to write this kid off as being "the son of Satan", there's no quick decision making in who this kid is, he's just clever and manipulative and what makes it worse is he's still our lead characters son. So the ol' "let's just off him" option, ain't exactly on the table.
The two parents both play it well, the mum gets you feeling all sorts of things for her, until you realise the route of the problems and Sam Rockwell as the dad, well, It's sam and even though he's got his suit and briefcase here, he's still a cool MO FO and until he gets exactly what's going on he keeps his rockwellness without it stepping away from the character.
When Rockwell does catch up, the mood changes dramatically. It counters the fun loving nature of Joshua's dad so well. He's on edge, paranoid, suspecting and adds a real tension to the proceeding. More than there was already.
What i liked the most about this movie is it's never simple. There's not "one" reason why Joshua is doing what he's doing and it's never fully laid out "how" exactly, all you need to know and more importantly, feel, is that Joshua is diffrent. He doesn't fit in, and probably never will and the kid plays that perfectly (with alot of help from clever direction).
This is tense, and thought provoking and genuinly a scenario where you are stuck between a rock and a hard place, capturing that feeling parents must have when the kids feel too far gone to save....it's pretty damn uncomfortable.
The trailer for this movie made it seem scarier in the traditional sense than it actually was. Though this movie has its startle moments, it's definitely more of a psychological thriller without a conclusive end. And to make it worse, the main fema...(read more)le character was one of those instable, senseless types that piss you off because they're so useless to themselves as well as everyone else. If you like horror, go watch a real horror flick and forgo the sick feeling at the thought of a 9-year old psychopath without any grasp of basic morals.
wyl watchin it i waitd n waitd 4 sumfing gud...n in da end da movie finishd wen i was still waitin....VERY stupid story...da boys a bit of a retard cos he did all dat 4 jus 1 small fing...
this film suuuuuuuuuuuuucks, its soooo dragged out its just like finish already. we all knows whats going to happen as that litle dude is a FREAK! but yeah this film sucks, the only thing i was thinking throu out this film is dont hurt the babby. fuck your self but dont hurt the babby. but yeah i guess Jacob Kogan deserves credit for his acting but other than that this suck. longest hour and 45 mins iv had in a while. avoid this film not worth watching....
A big "yawn" goes to this movie. I got through only half of it. Couldn't bring myself to finish it. If you need something to help you fall asleep, I'd rent this.
Joshua: "I'll give you five dollars if you let me throw a rock at you."
A The Omen/The Bad Seed modern version that doesn't really bring anything new, except its attempt to use real demons - postpartum depression, child abuse - as elements of horror, where it certainly deserves some credit. Jacob Kogan is also genuinely creepy in some occasions and Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga don't know how to not be at least solid. In the end, Joshua can't really be considered a bad film, but the best thing it does is to remind us of the best films of the creepy-kid sub-genre that were made a long time ago. Still worth it.
I thought I was going to adore this movie. Truth is I didn't! I did liked it, it is a well rounded film, but I think they tried to hard on making it creepy. It was creepy but I think it was because the kid's performances was so natural that it was impossible for it to not be scary. The performances of Vera Farmiga and Sam Rockwell were very good, specially his, he was really outstanding!!! I probably have to say that my favorite part of all was the death of Celia Weston! Her character was, as usual, annoying and really unnecesary, I wanted her to die from the moment she first appeared on-screen. The film is not better than other movies with creepy kids like The Omen and such. But still they managed to capture the child's behavior in a realistic way without recurring to the demons and devil whorshiping resources. I also liked the post-partum depression aspect, they usually overlook this and I think it's a very important fact on the kid's behavior, it really gave it strenght to the realism of the story. I liked the movie, I really enjoyed it, my main problem is that some things felt a little forced and overall it was too slow so sometimes, as part of audience, I felt lost and wanting it to end! Still, it's pretty good.
MCT:August 30, 2008
MCT:August 29, 2008
MCT:July 30, 2008
MCT:June 15, 2008
MCT:May 2, 2008
MCT:April 3, 2008
MCT:April 2, 2008
MCT:March 27, 2008
