The Prodigy (Review)
The Prodigy Fully Embraces the Fact that Kids are Just Plain Creepy.
These days, it seems like creepy kids are making a come back when it comes to horror and The Prodigy is only the most recent movie to try to cash in on that tried and true cliche. Of course, I’m not going to argue that it isn’t incredibly effective when done right, just look at last years Hereditary. The Prodigy though remarkably seems to both hit the mark and miss it completely when it comes to the tale of its own creepy kid, Miles. It offers a unique and interesting concept but seems to bungle the actual execution as it tries too hard to give audiences a reason to be creeped out in the first place. After all, logic has no place in most horror films so it seems strange that The Prodigy wants so desperately to lend legitimacy to its premise.
Fans of Orange is the New Black will recognize Taylor Schilling immediately in the role of Sarah a woman blessed with a truly gifted son, Miles (Jackson Robert Scott, who played little Georgie in the new It movie). Of course, being really smart comes with plenty of drawbacks too and it slowly becomes apparent that there is something wrong with little Miles as he starts to act out in incredibly vicious ways towards those around him. Now, I’ve seen more than enough horror movies to know that once kids start doing creepy things like speaking in unknown languages or killing the family pet (trigger warning for those of you sensitive to those things), that it’s best not to take any chances. A mother’s love though seems to know no bounds though and thus The Prodigy takes things further than they should ever logically go.
When things go right in The Prodigy they really work. Scott certainly manages to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when it matters the most, but he’s not exactly the most charismatic actor in the world. However, Schilling swoops in to do most of the heavy lifting in the scenes they share together. Her visceral reactions to the horrors wrought by her kid are what really manage to get under audiences skin. We can sympathize with her over pretty much everyone else in the movie and because of that, there’s a wealth of empathy for us to feed off of. Pair that with the darkness that Scott channels for a few of the scenes, and the two manage to carry the film pretty well. However, that’s about where the positives end when it comes to this horror flick.
I’ve seen more than my fair share of possession movies over the years and most of them are pretty awful (take last years The Possession of Hannah Grace). The Prodigy though adds a unique twist on this though by putting a horror twist on reincarnation as a form of possession. This immediately caught my attention when director Nicholas McCarthy rolled it out in the second act. However, The Prodigy tries so hard to lend legitimacy to this concept that it ends up hurting itself more than helping. It needlessly overindulges the concept, treating the audience like a group of children who couldn’t possibly grasp the premise and because of that, it comes across as desperate to sell this plot point. Horror though isn’t a genre that relies on logic, but on emotion. So trying to “logically” explain what’s wrong with Miles only makes it annoying and off-putting to the point of undermining everything it does get right. In the end, The Prodigy is more tied up in reassuring itself than it is on trying to tell a good story.
A lot of what works in horror is the build up. Tension is key if you want the audience to be on the edge of their seats. However, all of that has to pay off at some point. The Prodigy does a pretty good job at the build-up but completely neglects the payoff. Miles is definitely a creepy kid and the film makes it clear that he could potentially be capable of anything. However, when he finally has his moments to shine he never seizes them. It’s the classic example that a barking dog never bites. The Prodigy feels like it’s all talk by the end of it. That it’s so busy setting itself up that it has no idea what to do in order to prove how “scary” it really is. Sure, there are some pretty intense moments, but none of them feel like they live up to what’s promised.
Like I said before, The Prodigy is a hit or miss movie. It does get some things right, which is a lot more than can be said for a lot of the horror flicks out there. That’s why I won’t say that it’s an especially terrible film. Instead, I’ll simply call it average at best. It has a pretty solid foundation and manages to grab your attention with an enthralling first few minutes. From there though it seems to struggle under an unnecessary weight that it places on itself to be truly great and because of that it forgets to focus on being good first.
