The Reel Review
Miles is a special boy with unique talents and extraordinary intelligence. But when he starts acting out in terrifying, violent ways, his father (Peter Mooney) is convinced he’s mentally ill, while his worried mother (Taylor Schilling) fears an evil, supernatural force has taken hold of him. Is Miles crazy… or possessed?
Schilling (Orange Is the New Black) is pretty convincing as the doting and somewhat dense mommy that takes a little too long to realize something is amiss with her pint-sized monster, chillingly portrayed by Jackson Robert Scott (the doomed little brother/sewer dweller Georgie from the 2017 adaptation of Stephen King’s It). Seriously – this kid is so good at being creepy in this thriller it is downright disturbing.
Jeff Buhler’s well-crafted script, deftly directed by Nicholas McCarthy (The Pact), upends the typical horror tropes, creating an unpredictable, dark and sinister film about reincarnation. Just when you think you’ve figured the story out, up pops new, disturbing surprises. And while it has a healthy dose of jump scares (including the shocker in that excellent, must-see trailer below), this appropriately named film is ironically proving itself to be at the head of the class of 2019 for chilling, thought-provoking horror.
REEL FACTS
• 10-year-old Jackson Robert Scott will be reprising his role of young Georgie later in 2019 in It: Chapter Two. Scott has also appeared in several TV series – Locke and Key, Criminal Minds and Fear the Walking Dead. He’s also a Cub Scout.
• In The Prodigy, Miles has heterochromia, a very rare occurrence where one eye is a different color than the other. Scientific consensus is that its primary cause is a lack of genetic diversity.
• Taylor Schilling’s big break in acting was the 2009 NBC TV drama Mercy, which she landed with only one prior acting credit and while working as a nanny in New York City.
Video & Photo
