The Prodigy

The old Bad Seed formula is fused with elements of reincarnation and possession in Nicholas McCarthy’s horror movie about a child capable of the most horrible acts. The hybrid begins with a deliberately disjointed juxtaposition of the birth of son Miles to Sarah and John (Taylor Schilling and Peter Mooney) and the shooting of serial killer Edward Scarka (Paul Fauteux) by a SWAT team, after Margaret (Brittany Allen)—his last abductee—escaped and led them to his lair. As he grows up, Miles exhibits advanced skills that indicate he might be a genius. But at the age of eight, Miles (now played by Jackson Robert Scott) begins to show disturbing traits, arranging an accident for his babysitter and mumbling gibberish in his sleep. On occasion, Sarah even thinks that his face changes into that of someone else. After Miles attacks a classmate, Sarah takes him to a researcher who believes that Miles’s body houses two souls—the boy’s and that of a dead person eventually identified as Scarka. In the wake of still more gruesome events, Sarah desperately tries to save her son from the malignant spirit that threatens to take him over completely—an effort that requires extreme measures, including a tense meeting with Margaret that leads to a cynical and nasty outcome. McCarthy’s adept direction and Scott’s unsettling performance help make The Prodigy a genuinely creepy film, albeit one that is also extraordinarily unpleasant and at times positively repulsive. Still, genre fans are likely to appreciate this, making it a strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)