Watch The Child For Free

Simply Perfect

Fantastic!

Absolutely Fantastic

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

I liked the idea and the general plot twist, as it ends up being not what it starts as (just so I don't spoil this for others by sharing too much).But everything aside from that, was absolutely horrible! Bad acting, awful screen writing job, especially when it goes for the dialogues, horrid directing with major mistakes - things the viewer already knew for a half an hour, would be made seem as the main characters' huge revelation and culmination. Just poor. To be honest, I give it a 3/10 just because the idea was good, and I am giving that to the book author. I'm amazed I made it through the movie with such patience, actually...

What in the name of Morgan Freeman is this rubbish? The acting was so wooden it gave me splinters....sadly, they were in my eyes! The plot didn't even have the decency to revel in it's own ridiculousness....and the execution? For such a teeny budget it didn't look bad but the set-pieces that were there to disquiet verged on 6th-form, end-of-term parody. Creepy for all the wrong reasons. What a shame a good idea took the wrong direction. Sure it would have been better in German. Maybe even in Norwegian or Welsh....at least then I wouldn't have to understand the clunky dialogue and painful delivery. I'm going off now to exfoliate with sandpaper to try and get rid of this grubby feeling.

I enjoyed most of this film. The first three quarters was good. I found it quite easy to guess who was the bad guy quite early on, but enjoyed watching how everything played out. I like the third party approach that they took to show the serial killers' view of the situation. I have to say I was very disappointed with everything following the climax of the film though. It was like they had no idea of how to end the film. Everything after this point felt tacked on. The adult characters explanation to Simon at the end about how everything happened felt forced. I think this could have been dealt with better through more flash backs of how it happened and allowing the viewer to making the connection instead of just spelling it out. The death of Simon at the end felt boring, like I'd seen this kind of ending a thousand times before.

What can be said about this movie? For the people who don't like long reviews I'll save you the effort & just sum it up with the sentence "read the title of this review". I hope that is suffice. Now to people who prefer for me to explain the movie in detail & why I didn't like it, here goes. So the story is set in Germany, why? Who knows, I'm still trying to figure that one out. The plot follows a strange terminally ill boy who claims to have not only been reincarnated but also has vivid memories of his former life as a brutal serial killer. This is never explained. So along comes Robert Stern (Eric Roberts), a big shot defense lawyer who was once the partner of the boy's mother/guardian named Carina (Sunny Mabrey). For whatever convoluted reason, Carina wants Robert to help explore her son's twisted thoughts by uncovering the victims he supposedly killed in his past life. Initially skeptical, Robert quickly jumps on board when the bodies start piling up. I also forgot to mention that he is also being extorted by a mysterious entity who is holding his wife & supposedly dead child captive but it's not worth explaining because it contributed nothing to the overall plot.So roughly, for the next 90 minutes we watch the boy follow one clue after the next while they begin to uncover a child pedophilia ring. Here is where I give a warning to some sensitive viewers. Pictures of naked children are actually shown in one scene. I couldn't believe my eyes but it's true. Also an old man acts sexually towards the boy as he 'grooms' him for what's to come. I thought it was done in poor taste by the director. However it is a European film so I guess strong sexual themes are to be expected. The second half of the film is a prolonged & bloated mess where there are ridiculous plot twists that extend well beyond the realm of disbelief. Another point to add is that the end credits were 20 MINUTES long. I swear, the film makers must have included half of the German phone directory among the list of credits.From beginning to end, this movie couldn't decide what plot it wanted. Was it the plot about the terminal kid trying to cope with his impending death; was it the one about Eric Roberts dealing with the death of his newborn or was it a tale about a serial killer who needed two lives to exact his revenge? It's a shame to see decent actors like Eric Roberts and Peter Greene waste their obvious talent on this pointless drivel. Regardless, both of these actors gave solid performances under the conditions & made this film at least mildly bearable to watch. 2/5