The Prodigy focuses on married couple Sarah and John - played by Taylor Schilling and Peter Mooney, respectively - who give birth to a son named Miles - played by Jackson Robert Scott - an intelligent young boy with an extreme intellect. When Miles begins exhibiting dangerous, unstable, and flat-out strange behavior, the couple brings him to a psychiatrist, played by Colm Feore, for further examination. There, it’s discovered that there’s something much more sinister to the child’s behavior than meets the eye.
Another entry into the “creepy child” horror subgenre, The Prodigy is a pretty familiar setup that really doesn’t do much in terms of its premise to really distinguish itself from any other films in the genre. It feels like a cross between The Omen and Child’s Play though without much of the spark or high energy that either of those movies has. Instead, the film is fairly low energy, more so in its first half than its second. It forgoes having a coherent plot to instead focus on random sequences of odd imagery that drag the 90 minute run time out to feel much longer than it needs to be.
The film is well-acted, being one of many movies released this year with Taylor Schilling in a starring role, and proving that she can easily handle starring in feature roles with ease. And that’s one of the only aspects that really keeps the audience somewhat engaged, with much of the acting elevating the material. Another standout in the cast is Colm Feore as the psychiatrist, whose role is brief but pivotal, and is ultimately one of the better sequences in the entire film.
In terms of storytelling, the characterization is incredibly weak, with almost little to nothing learned about any of these characters to make the audience care. There’s nothing interesting about them when they’re introduced and they are simply defined by the events of the movie, making them feel like pawns in a game, rather than believable characters. There are some bold, interesting choices made in certain sequences but in many aspects, they feel like they’re just doing what the screenplay requires them to do.
There are some solid character moments in the film’s second half, which is where things do pick up a bit. Once Feore’s character is introduced, while the film doesn’t do a complete 180, it does include just enough moments that help redeem the sluggish first half by just a bit. In terms of aesthetic, the film begins shedding some of the imagery that felt “strange for the sake of being strange,” and instead goes for an old-school creepy feel that works well in several instances. While the film still feels uneven as these characters still never feel fully developed, there are at least enough interesting moments that grab the audiences more than in the first half.
The Prodigy does prove that director Nicholas McCarthy does have something of an eye for solid horror, this isn’t exactly a satisfying sum of its parts. It gets off to an incredibly shaky start, with a sluggish pace, weak characterization, and generic premise that feels played out. The film does pick up a bit in its second half and does have some moments that are genuinely creepy, but it never fully redeems the film for its first half and makes it only mildly enjoyable. The only consistent aspect of the film is its acting, particularly from Taylor Schilling, which for some won’t be enough but for others will make the film watchable enough to get through at least once.
Recommendation: Proceed With Caution
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