Horror comes in many forms and all shapes and sizes. Sometimes what scares viewers is large, sometimes small. The tension that thrills audiences can poison the mind from within, at other times it seeps in from the outside. In this horror thriller film, The Prodigy, fear comes in the form of a little boy named Miles, played for most of the movie by Jackson Robert Scott. The shining love of his parent's life, his mother Sarah (Taylor Schilling) and father John (Peter Mooney) cherish him because of the long and difficult road to conception. After developing into a gifted child, signs that something sinister begins to show.
The movie, directed by Nicholas McCarthy, may bring to mind classics in the genre like Rosemary's Baby and The Omen. McCarthy's film doesn't necessarily aspire to the long, slow burn of Rosemary's Baby. And where those movies creeped viewers out with the religious and the occult, the crux of what's wrong with Miles lies in a more generic conception of reincarnation. The first half of the movie fails to bind viewers to it, due to the lack of tension. While the question of what is wrong with Miles can be held off a bit to build suspense, the film doesn't give viewers much else to guess about.
It's in the second half of the story that the movie picks up. Once we find out the true nature of Miles' disturbing and violent behavior in school, tension builds as Sarah tries to save her son. While there aren't any especially surprising twists to the plot, it's still serviceably interesting. Moviegoers may have been served better if more time had been spent on any number of things: the serial killer angle, deepening the importance of Miles' genius, or even giving some cultural gravity or occult meaning to the film's interpretation of reincarnation.
It's really Scott's acting that makes the movie worth watching. Scott, who played little Georgie Denbrough in the 2017 remake of It, is the main attraction in the film. In his performance, he's given moments to bring his character to life. As Miles, he's able to channel an unnerving presence. He shows glimpses of quiet monstrosity in his small body. A flash of menace, or a bone-chilling, vacant murderous stare that makes the stomach turn-it's made all the more disturbing because it comes from a child, seemingly harmless. It's amazing how Scott is able to slip on the mask of a grown serial killer. He puts on a thin taunting visage, a crooked grin, a smug expression-the face of a child contorted to resemble that of a cruel man.
The child actor easily sends tingles up the spine and raises the hairs on your arms with his performance. Sadly, as good as he is, he can't make up for the all the weaknesses of the film. The Prodigy isn't quite clever enough to be worth the time.