The Prodigy
Orion Pictures | Release Date: February 8, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
45
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
8
Negative:
6
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Original-CinJim SlotekFeb 7, 2019
There’s a sense of familiarity to The Prodigy, the latest in a half-century of “evil child” stories going back to The Bad Seed, and including The Exorcist and The Omen. It’s still effective, given the chills we get from a sweet-faced kid saying or doing something horrible in the dark. Read full review
75
Washington PostAlan ZilbermanFeb 6, 2019
McCarthy is not (yet) a celebrated director, but The Prodigy may change that. As with his under-seen debut film “The Pact,” his greatest asset here is his patience, followed by his evocative use of light, shadow and negative space. He’s a filmmaker who recognizes that the buildup is more fun than the payoff, and he manages to generate suspense with seemingly little happening on the screen. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinFeb 7, 2019
It could have been smarter without sacrificing pacing or chills. That’s not a dealbreaker — target audiences will likely be satisfied by its many pluses — but the film is good enough that you wish it went all the way. Read full review
67
IndieWireKate ErblandFeb 6, 2019
The film is littered with jump scares, but most of them offer up shocking twists that land with genuine payoff: the score winds up, the framing gets tighter, the shots linger for longer, and when a different film might serve up a jump scare with a giddy “oh, it was nothing!” laugh, The Prodigy delivers something truly distressing. Read full review
60
VarietyCourtney HowardFeb 6, 2019
While it lacks gripping, nail-biting tension, the unnerving horror that underscores the family drama brings it to life. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerFeb 6, 2019
The filmmakers figure out how to make a creepy kid chilling again, then stop short, closing the case too early. In other words, they’ve got an underachiever on their hands. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzFeb 7, 2019
Another stroke of casting fortune was landing Scott as the disturbing Miles. I hesitate to applaud any business decision that encourages a kid to channel the spirit of a rapist and murderer, but the young actor accomplishes what I can only assume The Prodigy set out to do: make you reconsider parenthood, and just how much paprika you should stock. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMatthew MonagleFeb 6, 2019
One personal pet peeve is the music. A movie about evil reincarnation could pave the way for any of a hundred different song choices, but The Prodigy’s score is focused on a dissatisfying blend of danger chords and a single shapeless Hungarian folk song. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineHenry StewartFeb 6, 2019
The filmmakers fail to realize that the darkest horror here doesn’t lie in the triumph of true evil, but in seeing how far a regular family will go to protect itself before doing the right and necessary thing, however hard or horrible it might be. Read full review
49
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiFeb 6, 2019
The Prodigy may offer some shocks to those susceptible to this genre, or who have never seen it before, but to horror fans it will probably seem unremarkable and even bland. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinFeb 8, 2019
Nicholas McCarthy, the director of the new bad-seed movie, The Prodigy, works in a low key that still somehow scrapes your nerves, so when the nasty stuff arrives, you realize (too late!) that you’ve been softened up for the kill. The film is cruelly well-made. Read full review
40
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisFeb 7, 2019
The movie’s occasional chills do little to obscure the thin plotting, problematic pacing and a central mystery that’s left aggravatingly vague. Read full review
38
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsFeb 8, 2019
The Prodigy doesn't work because Buhler's scenario is too predictable to be involving and McCarthy's direction is too indecisive to be gripping. One of these two problems might have been surmountable, but both, at the same time, is lethal. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 8, 2019
Still, the frights, with Mom seeing the hand-chopping serial killer’s face (Paul Fauteux) on her little boy’s body, the stabbings and threats of worse to come (hilariously foreshadowed to death) deliver the requisite pulse-stopping punch...If that’s all you’re hoping for in a horror picture, fine. If not, you’ve been warned. Read full review
33
ConsequenceDominick Suzanne-MayerFeb 9, 2019
While it’s a reasonably paced thriller, The Prodigy is almost wholly devoid of real scares. Read full review
33
The PlaylistGriffin SchillerFeb 6, 2019
Offering very little in the way of enjoyment or anything other than clichéd horror tropes, The Prodigy isn’t offensively terrible and will unintentionally make for a few solid laughs, but it’s best not to let this forgettable vessel possess much of your time. Read full review
30
The Hollywood ReporterJustin LoweFeb 6, 2019
The film’s cardinal sin isn’t so much that it’s unoriginal as that it’s so uninvolving it almost assures attention deficit will set in early. Read full review
25
New York PostRob Bailey-MilladoFeb 8, 2019
Do not see this movie if you like children, dogs, hands or Hungarian folk music. The Prodigy, the latest in a long, increasingly lousy line of bloodthirsty kid movies, might spoil all of the above for you. Read full review
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