As far as these sort of disposable, early-in-the-year, studio horror films go, The Prodigy is a lot better than you might expect. It’s another addition to the long running tradition of creepy kids in horror films. But what makes this particular one somewhat noteworthy is the seeming disinterest that writer, Jeff Buhler, and director, Nicholas McCarthy, have in the general nuts and bolts of the usual jump scare fare that you would typically experience with films like this. Instead, it seeks to focus more on how the family around the creepy kid slowly falls apart, and exploring the idea of what line you would be willing to cross as a parent to save your child, even if they may not deserve it.
The creepy kid in question is Miles (Jackson Robert Scott), who happens to be born on the same night as the death of a deranged killer (Paul Fauteux), which is how the film opens. At first, things seem reasonably fine, exceptional even, as the parents, Sarah (Taylor Schilling) and John (Peter Mooney), realize their kid might be some kind of early bloomer, and intelligent beyond his years. Of course, over time, Miles acts weird, says strange things, and Sarah uncovers a twisted explanation as to what might be happening to her son.
The film spends a lot of time building on the relationship dynamic with the family, while not relying on tired tropes such as the never present father. John and Sarah are equally committed to raising Miles to the best of their abilities, and they have a very genuine sense of love between them, one that feels lived in. I especially liked one small moment where they go on a date night, which to them is driving up to a lake, and drinking a case of beer while musing about times gone by. There’s enough here to get you invested in the relationships, and having an understanding of the struggle that comes with raising a child.
That doesn’t mean the movie skimps out of the spooky stuff. It doesn’t waste much time getting to the ominous shots of Miles standing about, or speaking in gibberish to himself, or showing violent impulses. There’s enough momentum and dread to these sequences to ne effective, even if they don’t do anything all that new or inventive. There aren’t much in terms of false jump scares. The few jump scares that are here are meant to be something creepy. They honestly didn’t do much for me except for one quick shot of the kid sitting in a chair with a…let’s just say a strange look on his face.
It really is in the moments where Sarah becomes desperate to find out what’s wrong with Miles and how to fix him, where the uneasiness begins to sit with you. The film puts you in her perspective, making you think what you would do if something was deeply wrong with your kid. The film keeps building on that theme until it hits an incredibly tense climax that takes some really dark turns that I didn’t expect the film to take. I admire how far the filmmakers were willing to go for that finale, and it’s the one thing that pushes me into giving this a light recommendation.
There are several drawbacks. For one, it plays a bit too simple and obvious. There’s no real attempt to create any red herrings, throw some major obstacles beyond whatever the boy is up to, or add any other further complications. It’s too straightforward for its own good. It was also easy to notice how whenever the kid swore it was done off-screen, indicating some possible dubbing, which isn’t inherently bad, but it is distracting if it’s noticeable. Although, one moment where Miles whispers for Sarah to go fuck herself after she tucked him is still making me laugh just thinking about it, and I do mean that in a good way. Aside from that, the problems are more generic in nature, some more characterization for certain individuals, some more moments that leaned in on its R-rating, some more thematic meat on its bones, etc. It certainly could be improved, but the film is perfectly functional as is.
I don’t think anyone will come out of The Prodigy thinking it will be the horror movie to beat for the rest of the year, but it is a surprisingly solid piece of psychological horror that explores aspects of parenthood in compelling ways. McCarthy has a good sense of framing a shot for maximum creep factor. The performances are good, especially from Scott and Schilling. It’s the kind of film that is mostly average, but it has moments that pack a seriously mean and unforgiving punch. Those moments elevate the rest of the film, making it interesting and very watchable, which is more than I could say for a lot of these kinds of movies we get around this time of the year.