The New Daughter [DVD]

A lot of reviewers here and elsewhere are having a go at Costner for this movie and I wonder what film have they been watching. Yes, this film is NOT like most of the present day horror movies which rely on graphic violence, sexy characters who all appear to lack common sense, predictable and weak storylines, and tons of special effects, yet is better for it as it relys on a deliberate pace which requires the audience to pay attention, suspense, an ever increasing sense of dread for the inevitability of the outcome, and good performances from the cast especially the two kids and Costner as the father.

The film deliberately eschews modern styles such as the bleached out look, over loud music that telegraphs how we must react, and fast cutting. It embraces a 70's style approach and the earlier slow pace is absolutely right for this film and in no way should put off the viewer as it all pays off in the second half.

Give this film a chance - you might be surprised.

The blu-ray disc replicates the rich colour palette and the warm tones of South Carolina accurately and I recommend the viewer to listen to the uncompressed pcm track which is better than the Dolby track. There is a an adequate commentary by the director, deleted scenes as well as a standard behind-the scenes feature.

This film is the latest Hollywood outing for Luis Bedejo, the Spanish director of 'Rec' and 'Imago Mortis'. I haven't seen the former but I have reviewed the latter on this site. There is no doubting he is a good director and has a keen eye for framing a shot and setting a scene. He is becoming a master at building suspense and this film is an object lesson in that but viewers with a short attention span may have trouble sticking with this one. Kevin Costner stars as John James; a recently divorced writer, who takes his 14 year old daughter Louisa and 7 year old son Sam to live in a large mansion in the woods of South Carolina to lick their wounds. They discover what appears to be a burial mound in the woods and Louisa is fascinated with it from the start whilst Sam is instantly repelled by it. As the film develops Louisa is obviously changing but a lot of the signs can be mistaken for a teenager hurt by her family's break up. Sinister events happen and Costner is on the trail of the house's mysterious past whilst his present is falling apart at home. I can't say much more without spoiling it for you but lets just say if you're a fan of M Night Shyamalan then you will probably enjoy this too watch carefully for a little twist in the final scene. Kevin Costner does a reasonable job of his role but top marks go to Ivana Baquero as Louisa, the 'new daughter'. You may remember this enigmatic 16 year old from 'Pan's Labyrinth' and she is definitely one to watch for the future. The film is presented in widescreen letterbox format and has a good well defined soundtrack. Listen out for when Costner is walking in the woods at night and the twig snaps behind you. Extras included a 10 minute making of and 20 deleted scenes.

I've read a couple of books by John Connolly which I've greatly enjoyed, and so was pleasantly surprised when I learned that this movie was based on one of his stories. The result was enjoyable, but perhaps not so much for someone who often enjoys watching thrillers and/or horror movies.

The story's pretty straightforward: a recently divorced man moves to a remote house in a village somewhere, and takes his son and daughter with him (it very adequately matches every single cliché you might associate with this, including mommy issues). His daughter explores the expansive backyard, finds a strange-looking hill and starts acting weird. Turns out the hill's actually a burial mound, inhabited by creatures who are bent on procreating with aforementioned daughter.
What annoyed me the most is that it took everyone in the movie forever to figure out that the hill was a burial mound (even though they referred to it as a mound every chance they got, even before knowing what it was). But okay, let's forgo that for a moment. Every single event in the movie takes a while to register with the father, played well enough by Kevin Costner. Also annoying. Events could have been highlighted with giant neon arrows pointing to them, so to speak, and they still would not register with him.
Other acting performances worth mentioning (unfortunately in a negative manner) are the two children. Whoever plays the daughter has little talent for acting, as does the little kid who plays the son (yet that's understandable, as most little kids tend to overact). The creatures from the hill were reasonably well rendered.

The ending was predictable, one which most people will see coming from a mile away. Still, the overall movie, even with all its annoying little things, was enjoyable. Original enough, interesting enough, entertaining enough. Just don't expect anything great, and you might like this movie.