Instinct de survie

A decent little "family in new home" horror film. I like the whole mound idea with creepy creatures living under it. But, this film actually does a good job of achieving the "less is more" approach, focusing on the inner family conflict and the confrontational young daughter coming into her teens, and using that as the main suspense element. I'm always a fan of Costner so it was good seeing him in a horror, plus the kids did well with their parts too.

A recently divorced father (Kevin Costner) moves his teenage daughter Louisa (Ivana Baquero) and son Sam (Gattlin Griffith) to the rural town of Mercy, South Carolina for a fresh start. In the dark forest beyond their new house, strange noises can be heard, and soon the father comes to believe that there's something wrong with his daughter. Is it connected to the strange mound of earth amongst the trees?

"The New Daughter" is not a bad movie at all, but it's not especially great either and that's what I found so frustrating about it. It comes so very close to being brilliant but somehow fails when it should have succeeded. Perhaps part of the reason it fails is that it needed a stronger leading man at its centre. The entire movie rests upon Kevin Costner's shoulders and he seems to virtually sleepwalk through it. The only time you see a glimmer of emotion is when he pounds his fists gently against a wall in one scene to show his anger. The actors playing the children are fine, even if they don't exhibit a lot of emotive moments and simply go from A to B as required.

The director does a superb job providing a growing sense of dread at the situation, and there are a number of scenes where he employs the 'less is more' approach, leaving it up to the imagination of the audience as to what a dark shape amongst the trees might have been, or what might be making a strange noise behind a closed door. The movie has a slow, moody pace similar to movies such as "Signs" and "The Others" which also helps to enhance the atmosphere. The special effects in the later part of the movie are also very well done.

In conclusion, I would have to say that "The New Daughter" is 'okay'. It's certainly worth a rental if you like slower paced psychological horrors rather than the type of movie where everyone runs around attempting to avoid crazed killers. There's hardly any blood, and it does contain one or two good scares, although the plot is a bit predictable in places. I only wish that it was more than 'okay', because all of the elements were in place to make a far better movie and that's what ultimately frustrates me.

The New Daughter is an odd one, a creepy Kevin Costner vehicle that almost seems like an M. Night Shyamalan idea that didn't quite take flight from the drawing board. Nevertheless it's a good enough time at the movies, and there's genuinely skin crawling moments too. Costner, in solemn mode, plays a father who relocates to South Carolina with his kids. As if an obligatory adjustment period isn't bad enough, soon his teenage daughter (Pan's Labyrinth's Ivana Baquero, skillful but an odd choice to play all American white boy Kevin's daughter) starts acting strange, and I mean Stranger than your usual garden variety brand of pubescent restlessness. There's something out there in those rural woods, something that's drawing the girl's attention and slowly start possessing her. Father Costner is creeped out and desperate, seeking help from anyone he can, including a professor of far flung urban legend mythology (Noah Taylor), the creepy previous owner of his new home (screen legend James Gammon in his last living film role) and his kid's foxy local schoolteacher (Samantha Mathis). It's a spooky enough little flick, albeit cobbled together from several other better movies. There's creature effects later on that score some points, and atmospheric cinematography, but ultimately it's average, middle ground material.

In todays, "no imagination, every bit of story must be spelled out on screen in action and with explosions" it is often to appreciate movies that make you think, draw conclusions, actually use you imagination and remember the source.

This movie is true to the short story it is based on with a good cinematic backdrop where the actors act, and everything isn't carried out on a blue/green screen. Costner's portrayal was very true to the actual character which, isn't that the point of having characters and using actors that can act.

In a genre that is quickly becoming based only on graphic, grotesque, shocking blood and gore sequences and predictable horror and grisly effects, this thriller is actually attractive for all the right reasons and should be enjoyed highly by those that appreciate true horror/thriller films as opposed to the blood soaked hacker/slasher movies that are being pumped out monthly.

After his wife leaves him for another man, struggling author John James (Kevin Costner) relocates to a new house in rural South Carolina with his young son Sam (Gattlin Griffith) and teenage daughter Louisa "Lou" (Ivana Baquero) the latter of whom harbors feelings of resentment towards John for his inability to keep their family together. As the three adjust to their new home which has a mysterious burial mound located on the property, Louisa soon begins to exhibit personality changes that although initially seeming like adolescent angst may in fact be of a far more sinister and supernatural nature.

The New Daughter is a 2009 horror film adapted from John Connolly's 2004 short story of the same name first published in the collection Nocturnes. The rights to Connolly's story were purchased by Gold Circle Films who previously scored two modestly budgeted horror hits with White Noise and The Haunting in Connecticut. Initially intended to be a release by New Line, the film ultimately ended up being released by Anchor Bay where it was given a token limited theatrical run before being released to video a few months later. Critical reception tended to run negative with some praise going to the cast and underlying themes while lamenting the plethora of cliches used in the film. In many ways The New Daughter is an improvement on Gold Circles prior horror films like White Noise and Haunting in Connecticut, but it's also weighed down by many of the mid 2000s conveyor belt horror tropes that keep it firmly in the realm of mediocre rental shelf fodder.

Despite the many issues surrounding The New Daughter, the cast is honestly really solid with Costner well positioned to play an in over his head father whose relationship suffers a schism with his daughter Louisa who is on the cusp of pubescence. This is where there is a rich emotional core at play in the material because many parents often do find themselves in a state of upheaval when they're children stop being "children" and their personalities almost change seemingly overnight with a lot of anger and resentment often coloring that relationship. Ivana Baquero does very well as Lou and despite her often butting heads with John even in the opening the movie does give her some moments particularly with her younger brother Sam where she confides in him that it's not John's fault their mother left them. Honestly the stuff with the James family is very rich and very interesting and I often wanted to focus more on it than the actual horror material.

Luiso Berdejo who previously worked as a screenwriter, notably on the hit Spanish horror film REC, makes his directorial debut with the new daughter and he shows himself as having a strong eye for mood and atmosphere with some good nighttime photography of the house as well as nice framing of shots in the daylight scenes that still create an uncomfortable mood. The actual incorporation of the horror elements however is where we see cracks begin to develop because the movie rather than being more psychological concocts this very elaborate mythology involving burial mounds along with foreshadowing of ants and a lot of this stuff feels like it does a disservice to the core upon which the movie had a pretty promising foundation. As the movie goes on it veers more towards becoming a monster movie with some pretty goofy looking monsters and when the ending comes around it leaves on a sour note that just sees the whole thing fall apart.

The New Daughter has some really good ideas and performances on display, but there's also a lot of missteps especially when it comes to the handling of broken family dynamics with more conventional horror tropes. I honestly liked it better than prior PG-13 Gold Circle horror films like White Noise or Haunting in Connecticut, but it still carries many of the same flaws as those movies only with some good underlying ideas trying to get out.