Joshua

"Cruel children, crying babies, All grow up as geese and gabies, Hated, as their age increases, By their nephews and their nieces." Robert Louis Stevenson

If you're thinking of starting a family, don't see Joshua. If you think your stockbroker spouse is a stable breadwinner capable of providing you a view of Central Park, don't see Joshua. If you think all your children will be lovable, don't see Joshua.

However, if you want the bejesus scared out of you by a kid so bright he could skip two grades and play Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 12 at recess, director George Ratliff, whose Hell House could have entitled this expert psychological thriller, has fashioned a hell of a cautionary tale about appearances and reality, unlovable kids and their clueless parents. The slow disintegration of an upper-middle class family is so carefully drawn that the first third of the film seems like a walk in the park with a few scrapes from some errant shrubbery. When, however, nine-year old Joshua Cairn (Jacob Kogan) begins missing his parents' affection, displaced to his crybaby newborn sister, strange but not too strange things happen, not easily ascribable to him.

As in most successful thrillers involving miscreant kids, even to the end is a doubt that they could be the source of the growing terror. Although comparisons to The Bad Seed and Rosemary's Baby seem fair, Kogan bears a strong resemblance to Buddy Swan, who played the young Charles Foster Kane with chilling deadpan. Kane's lifelong hang up over being separated from his family is an appropriate allusion to clarify the psychological ramifications in this film.

Although I was quite pleased with the slow exposition, because I think things unravel slowly in privileged families, the payoff ending came too quickly and without the supernatural underpinnings the buildup seemed to promise.

"Modern children were considerably less innocent than parents and the larger society supposed . . . ." David Elkind, Child Psychologist

completely mis-marketed as an Omen-type horror film, there's a lot more going on in this one than in most of the recent similar scary fare. first things first: there's no supernatural hoo-hah. (ah, so refreshing.) it's an unsettling, strangely plausible horror film... seemingly made especially for parents. a few plot elements bothered me, and i felt there was one misstep (involving a Dave Matthews song, btw!), but overall it was an effective chiller. Vera Farmiga as the increasingly imbalanced mother and Celia Weston as the holy-rolling but genuinely concerned mother-in-law are both excellent, and Sam Rockwell delivers another compelling and subtly idiosyncratic performance. George Ratliff, who directed the engrossing and discomfiting 2001 documentary, Hell House, shows promise as a narrative filmmaker.

Ratliff's messy psychological thriller seems to have garnered quite some attention. Now there have been many movies centering around a sociopathic child. Most of them pretty much follow the same horror movie type formula where the child is terrorizing an entire family without them even noticing it. Unfortunately, 'Joshua' is no different. Firstly, the movie is filled with plot holes and unexplored questions. For example, why would Brad and Abby keep the video of Abby constantly crying when holding Joshua? Of course, not surprisingly, the psychologists and teachers are portrayed as caricature idiots (who think there's absolutely nothing wrong with this kid).

I was also surprised as how distant the parents were from Joshua in the beginning. Perhaps they knew something was off but stayed in denial. The parents too are portrayed as being stupid. They didn't even question Joshua giving all his toys away to charity and disemboweling his teddy bear. Some responses towards this movie are quite disturbing. One reviewer even wrote that he found himself vouching for the kid.

I wish there would be a movie that would at least do justice to the themes of a child sociopath rather than rely on clichés. Even the unexplored ending is very easily predictable and dissatisfying. The only non-clichéd angel is that director Ratliff refrained from using blood and gore but that doesn't make this a better movie. He tries to make it creepy by using typical shock tactics but they feel out of place. The so-called 'twists' are quite convenient. The behaviour of most of the characters is irrational.

The only plus point of 'Joshua' are the performances. Both Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga are very good in spite of having to play poorly written characters. I really wonder why they chose to act in this. Jacob Kogan plays it by the formula. Celia Weston is adequate even though her character is conveniently annoying as hell.

Overall, this is just trying to be a 'smarter' version of 'The Omen'. Other than Rockwell and Farmiga's performance, there's nothing going for it. Not even the slow pace.

You don't have to be a genius to work out that the plot doesn't sound too dissimilar to "The Omen" or "Orphan", it even has Vera Farmiga playing the mother again for gods sake! But, "Joshua" is no where near as great as "The Omen" or "Orphan". Don't get me wrong, it isn't the worst film I've seen in my life and it does have terrific strengths, but also weaknesses that drag the film down quite a bit.

"Joshua" has its own style, it's much more subtle than "Orphan", in "Orphan" we see Esther kill countless people so it's really in your face that she's evil. The twist isn't subtle either. But "Joshua" doesn't make it clear if it's his wrong doing or not. So "Joshua" sets out to be more classy than "Orphan" but also no where near as fun or entertaining. I did like how it was subtle and a bit of a slow-burner but sometimes the pacing got a bit too slow and at times boring, but always engaging.

The most impressive thing about "Joshua" is it's atmosphere. It builds up a really tense and uncomfortable atmosphere. It's beautifully bleak and awkward in a good way, not awkward in a bad way like "The Idiots". The boy who plays Joshua is also quite creepy. The unresolved ending also adds to the films creepyness.

So if you want a quietly grim and creepy drama with splashes of horror and intellect. "Joshua" is for you. But, I prefer the fun and weirdness of "Orphan".

This is a smart psychological horror film. An upscale NYC couple bring home their new baby and their older child -- a nine-year-old boy prodigy -- starts acting extremely creepy as suspicious accidents and odd behavior increase. Director George Ratliff creeps you out without any significant blood or gore, making this movie a lot more like Rosemary's Baby than, say, The Omen. With a smart script and great performances by everyone, including Sam Rockwell, Vera Farmiga and the kid playing Joshua, the only downside to this movie is a rushed "and-then-it-ends" anti-climax that I found unsatisfying. Still, this is worth a look if you like scary movies.