The Godsend

Another movie about a seemingly cute child with a not-so-cute side; Portland's video/DVD store Movie Madness has in the horror section a whole shelf devoted to Killer Kids. In this case, a typical English family one day picks up a woman who gives birth in their house and then disappears without a trace, leaving her infant daughter with them. Sure enough, their children start getting killed. Basically a rehash of "The Bad Seed", "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Omen". Still, "The Godsend" has a neat side, as the vicious little girl makes some faces that no one would ever associate with a little girl; she did look kind of scary.

But in the grand scheme of things, there's nothing new or important about this movie. Not to mention that it ends rather abruptly. Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus produced much better movies over the years. This is the sort of flick that you rent if there's absolutely nothing else available.

This movie is not connected to, a rip off of or inspired by The Omen. Just because both happen to be about an evil child doesn't mean a thing. The Godsend is pure science fiction: what if there was a sub-species of humans who bred the same way the cuckoo does. This bird has the nasty habit of laying it's eggs in the nests of birds of other species. The baby cuckoo imitates the calls of its nestmates so the unwilling adoptive parents are none the wiser. At its first opportunity the baby cuckoo murders the other babies by pushing them out of the nest. That's what this movie was about.

The makers of this decent horror drama do get high marks for good intentions here. Their film does score to a degree by focusing on the human element, as the devastating effects of tragedy hit a young country dwelling couple. This couple, Alan (Malcolm Stoddard), and Kate (beautiful Cyd Hayman), already have four children of their own. They meet a mysterious, pregnant stranger (played by Angela Pleasence, the daughter of Donald P.) who gives birth in their home and promptly disappears. They keep her baby as one of their own, but their own children start dying under mysterious circumstances, starting with their infant. Alan comes to believe that the new kid, Bonnie (played at different ages by Wilhelmina Green and Joanne Boorman), is responsible, but Kate just can't accept that this adorable moppet could possibly be a danger.

This may be too slow and quiet to suit some horror fans expecting something more along the lines of "The Omen". It really does stress its dramatic elements more than anything, shying away from anything such as graphic violence. It does have a suitably eerie mood, beginning with the effectively enigmatic performance by Ms. Pleasence. The rest of the cast, including Patrick Barr as the sympathetic Dr. Collins, does fine work. Location shooting is good and atmosphere is strong but the music by Roger Webb is a little overbearing. The script is by Olaf Pooley, based on a novel by Bernard Taylor, and the film is dialogue heavy, with producer / director Gabrielle Beaumont (making her feature debut here) never rushing through the story. The ending fails to be completely satisfactory; in fact, it's kind of abrupt, but overall those genre fans who prefer subtlety may find it to their liking.

Six out of 10.

The only way this film works is as a black comedy. The mother and father characters are the most inept and incompetent parents in the history of movies.

One by one, their children are dying. These parents just can't be bothered to keep an eye on their kids. Finally, by the time their 5th child mysteriously dies, Mom and Dad begin to figure out that little Bonnie might be the problem. But by then it's too late, the audience has already fallen asleep.

I saw this film when it first came out in 1980. I enjoyed it. I also read the book and found that the movie was a very faithful adaptation. This is the kind of movie that is not high-budget, nor is it laced with overwhelming special effects. But is a very entertaining, low budget, late night "get away from it all" type of film.