Presents

Joshua

For my money, there's nothing better than a creepy kid in a horror movie.  After all, it's hard to hate a kid (generally) and there's both a societal and psychological need to protect children that plays into that in a well made horror movie.  That's played perfectly in the new movie, Joshua.

  Here's the story: Joshua is not by any stretch of the imagination a normal kid.  He's a prodigy, he plays the piano and he's much smarter than his classmates.  His parents even seem to treat him more like an adult than a kid, but when they have a second child, Joshua seems to become a bit distant.  Strange things begin to happen around the house, when Joshua's mom is stricken with post-partum depression things get weirder, and medication doesn't seem to be helping.  Then, when his grandmother falls down some stairs, Joshua's father begins to believe that all these things are linked to Joshua somehow.  Can he prove that a nine year old is manipulating grown-ups?  Will Joshua destroy his entire family to get his own way?  You'll really need to rent this to find out.

The great thing about this movie is that Joshua isn't a 'demon' or 'possessed', he's just a disturbed little kid...or is he?  Joshua leaves you with just as many questions as it answers, which ordinarily would annoy me, but in this movie it works perfectly!  I'm giving Joshua four out of four cigars, because it's rare that a horror movie about an evil kid doesn't turn him into a monster, but leaves him a kid...however disturbed...and Joshua does just that.  It's a horror movie that drags the horror out of normal situations, and doesn't rely on gore and blood to scare you, you'll find yourself jumping in you seat when Joshua appears out of nowhere just to ask him mom if he loves him.  So, until next time, when I'll be sitting on my porch watching the neighborhood kids...just in case, remember that the best movies are bad movies.