GODSEND

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Because of: sexual content, language, thematic elements

Rated:

The Duncans have a perfect life. Paul (Greg Kinnear) is a successful inner-city school teacher about to be transferred to a much larger private school. His wife Jessie (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) is a well-known photographer, and their delightful son Adam (Cameron Bright) has just turned eight years old. On an after-birthday shopping spree with his mom, Adam goes out to play on the sidewalk in a pair of his brand new red shoes. This is the last time his mother sees him alive. A bicycle swarms through traffic, forcing a taxi cab to crash through the construction tape marking off the sidewalk. In an instant, all of their hopes and dreams for the future are brought to a brutal end. 

Their suffering brings the attention of an old professor of Jessie's, Richard Wells (Robert De Niro), who offers them a unique proposal. For many years, he has been tampering with science in an effort to clone human cells. This illegal and immoral practice would allow them to have Adam back again, a perfect duplicate of their beautiful little boy. The Duncans are incredulous, Paul believing that it's absurd, but his wife is desperate to have her child back again. They agree to the procedure, abandoning their former lives and going to live near the Godsend Institute. Adam is born and grows up the same beautiful little boy... until he turns eight years old. Then a series of nightmares known as "night terrors" by psychologists, begin to torment him. The obscure references he makes, the strange way he has of staring blankly into space, make his parents afraid that he is remembering portions of his other life.

Richard tells them not to be overly concerned, but warns them that things may change now that Adam is past the age when he died. The little boy begins to change dramatically, becoming cruel to his fellow students, abusive toward the teachers, and disobedient at home. He also speaks at length of Zachary, the boy in his dreams. Whether tormented by ghosts, plagued by demons, or suffering an emotional breakdown as his system goes into uncharted territory, Adam is far more dangerous than his parents could ever imagine. What results is a highly successful horror story that will make chills run up your spine. It is genuinely frightening because of its protagonist: a little boy who is not quite normal. While it has a logical revelation toward the end, the audience is mislead for most of the story, wondering whether the boy is being haunted or other sinister forces are at work in his life. Seeing brutal flashbacks of murder and burning buildings are creepy enough; Cameron Bright's innocent but slightly sinister countenance are more than convincing.

It is not, at its heart, a ghost story, so there aren't any true supernatural concerns to be worried about, but it does give ghostly visitations in the form of flashbacks and memories -- a school being set on fire, a child killing his mother, a dead boy suddenly awakening in the bathtub. Thematic elements come in heavily. A little boy is found dead in the river, the result of being hit on the back of the head by a schoolmate. Adam reveals murderous tendencies. We learn another boy killed his mother, then perished in the fire he set in the house. Language consists of one abuse of Jesus' name, a few scattered mild profanities, and a half dozen abuses of GD. Jessie and Paul have an affectionate marriage; they neck and kiss on the couch, and later start undressing. Her top comes off and they roll around on the bed. (Nudity is barely avoided.) The film also has an ambiguous and slightly disturbing ending. Individuals who enjoy ghostly thrillers will find this one super par for the course, since it has unique ideas and a truly chilling premise.