Maligna

Quite a nice movie this was.

Good acting, specially from the main actors. The girl, yes, the more you act cold, the more vulnerable you are inside.

This is a movie without action, pace, change of location, change of story. It's close to Morgan, but does not take its action path.

It could be played in a theatre. It kept me interested from start to end.

Not that it was brilliantly clever, as the girl was, it has its clichés of stereotype characters, but clever enough not try to tackle my intelligence.

So if you are a person of self-inspection, you will enjoy this movie.

The psychologist Dr. Fonda (Richard Neil) is invited by his colleague and friend Dr. Olivia (Jolene Andersen) to analyze the girl Ellie (Savannah Liles) in a military facility directed by Mr. Birch (Emilio Palame). Dr. Fonda is monitored by experts and must decide the fate of Ellie, who is the result of a failed military experiment. Soon Dr. Fonda discovers that Ellie is an intelligent girl and also a menace since she has powerful abilities and the military intend to destroy her. But Dr. Fonda foresees a chance to control her. What will be Ellie´s fate?

"Prodigy" is a surprisingly good low budget film. The storyline is tense and attractive but the conclusion is predictable. The plot is not original and there are many other films with powerful kids (maybe "Carrie" is the most famous) and Ellie recalls Carrie associated to Dr. Hannibal Lecter. But the conflict between emotion and reason is interesting. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Prodigy"

It's amazing what you can do with a low budget, solid script and good acting. There are some things that could have been better, mostly if the secondary characters had been given some more to do and had more interesting personalities. But the acting and especially the writing of the two leads (Neil and Liles) were the strong point, and made it an entertaining, if short, feature. Recommended if you like psychological thrillers with a bit of sci-fi. It won't change your life but it's a fun way to spend an hour and a half.

There's nothing outstanding about this movie, but it's a solid plot with a gripping delivery. Some acting was jilted and/or support characters were shallow, but the main job between the prodigal girl and the psychiatrist was good.

For a low budget psychological thriller it wasn't bad at all. It's not that I will remember it in the future, but to watch once it's good enough. Especially for the acting of the little girl Eleonore/Ellie played by Savannah Liles. I think she did a good job playing the creepy teenager, not only with her vocabulary but also with her facial expressions. It's a low budget, with only four different places where they shoot the entire movie, and with only a handful of actors, but you didn't need more to bring this story. A story of mind games and a bit of supernatural. Not exceptional but good enough to entertain you during 80 minutes.