Bless the Child (2000)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Fresh and Exciting

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

This was not original at all. It was entertaining though. Like Stigmata (1999) was a copy of The Exorcist (1973) this was a copy of The Omen (1976). In places it is very tame which is disappointing - a little more violence would have been great. It was slick as well and the ending was rubbish. Not especially scary but it is dramatic and thrilling.

There's nothing really about this film that hasn't been seen or done before,but certainly has been done better.It's a familiar good vs evil scenario. With the return of the Christmas Star,hanging in the night sky,Kim Bassinger returns home from work to find her drug addicted sister holding a new born baby girl.Sister promptly dumps the child and disappears leaving Bassinger to care for the baby. Skip forward several years and we find the child being brought up quite nicely and attending a Catholic school for special needs kids.The girl apparently has a form of autism but in reality is extremely gifted in ways nobody yet realises.........except for the Devil/Occult worshippers apparently hunting for any child that was born on the date the Christmas Star appeared years before.Getting the picture?.... Yep and so begins the battle to save mankind from the Devil......again... There's nothing particularly bad about this movie.It's just,well....average. There's very little or no tension from the story and the actors just seem to be going through the motions just to get payed at the end.Even Rufus Sewell,normally pretty good at playing bad guys tends to nibble the scenery rather than chew it!! Jimmy Smitts investigating FBI agent doesn't seem overly concerned or have any urgency about the fact that young kids are being kidnapped and turning up dead,and Bassinger just doesn't show her character any conviction to be believable.If anything,what really lets this movie down is the particularly bad special effects (just see the rats and you'll know what I mean).The movie could have probably done without them.I can look past average acting and overly familiar plots,but bad effects stick out a mile and do this movie no favours. That said,this movie is still watchable.There was nothing here that made me want to switch it off,but if you've seen the likes of The Omen,Excorcist,Rosemarys Baby etc,then you've probably seen the best of this genre out there and will want to give this a miss.

Released in 2000, "Bless the Child" is a thriller/horror that comes across as an inverted "The Omen" (1976) with elements of "End of Days" (1999). A little girl with awe-inspiring abilities is raised by her aunt, Maggie O'Connor (Kim Basinger), because her mother is a drug addict (Angela Bettis). The latter hooks up with a weird cult, led by the arrogant Eric Stark (Rufus Sewell), and they want the child for diabolical purposes.This is no low-budget production as it cost $40 million to make and was directed by Chuck Russell, who's known for a few fairly significant movies, like "Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors," the remake of "The Blob" and 1994's highly successful "The Mask." Despite this, "Bless the Child" strangely comes across as a Lifetime movie with a higher budget. In other words, it somehow lacks the sheen and pizazz of an expensive production, which explains the film's mediocre ratings.While I understand this criticism I was able to enter into the world of the characters and enjoy the movie. It's not technically as good as "The Omen" (and some would say that it's sacrilege to even compare them), but I personally prefer "Bless the Child" simply because I like the story, characters and themes better, despite the film's limitations.Concerning the cast: Kim Basinger was past her physical prime, but she still looks good and she's a likable and compassionate protagonist. Jimmy Smits co-stars as the detective on the case and he's effective, as always. Cutie Christina Ricci shines in a small role as a runaway who tries to help Maggie. They're all good, but it's Rufus Sewell who's most memorable as the leader of a cult that mixes elements of LaVeyian Satanism with Sciencefictionology.The CGI is a mixed bag, some of the effects are pretty good while some are barely serviceable, but you have to consider the age of the movie. Regardless, special effects are just icing on the cake; it's the story and characters that count and this is where "Bless the Child" is solid—nothing great or exceptionally good, but solid.The film runs 107 minutes and was shot in Toronto, Burlington and Sarnia, Ontario.GRADE: B or B-

Omens have no place in Maggie O'Connor's well-ordered, practical universe. Her life revolves around her job as a nurse at a busy New York hospital, until one rainy night, her sister Jenna abandons her newborn, autistic daughter at her home.Maggie takes the baby in, and she becomes the daughter she never had.Six years later Jenna suddenly re-appears with a mysterious new husband, Eric, and abducts Cody.Despite the fact that Maggie has no legal rights to Cody, FBI agent John Travis, an expert in ritual homicide and occult-related crime, takes up her cause when he realises that Cody shares the same birth date as several other recently missing children.The little girl, it soon becomes clear, manifests extraordinary powers that the forces of evil have waited centuries to control, and her abduction sparks a clash between the soldiers of good and evil.....released around the same time as End of days and Stigmata, this film relies on nothing more than shock tactics, not that bad CGI and Christina Riccis head coming off.Basinger isn't that good in her role, she can't really do anguish, and is upstaged by a wonderfully over the top Sewell. halfway through the movie, we realise that angels are helping her, and this is when it all becomes too silly for it's own good.There are some scenes that defy belief, like when she wakes up in a moving car, and the final act where the 'communion' is taking place, which is packed to the rafters from Lost boy rejects from Spielbergs 'Hook'.Nut it's cheesy in a good way,and there is some good support from Smits, but this is nothing new, and Schwarzeneggar had a much better time defeating the devil.