Coventry Review of The Godsend

The Godsend (1980)

We're all God's children... Except for that creepy blond girl!

[7/10 · 21 October 2007]

Well, this certainly isn't a movie I would recommend young/upcoming parents or youthful members of large families to watch! It could have quite a nightmarish impact on them, and on anyone else with an unstable nerve system for that matter. It's probably a hugely distasteful way to describe the plot, but the first half of "The Godsend" strangely resembles Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians". Kate and Alan Marlowe started out with four lovely children of their own at the beginning of the film. Then there were three, then two and so on. The number of kids alarmingly decreases because a mysterious lady gave birth to a girl in their house and then suddenly vanished without a trace. Little blond Bonnie is very cherubic, but even more morbid and dangerous, and she really doesn't get any more lovable with the age. Is Bonnie the world's youngest serial killer? Is she a child of the devil, like in the great influential classic "The Omen"? Or perhaps she's a one girl government-invented contraception campaign? Adapted from a novel, "The Godsend" is a strange and thoroughly unsettling thriller that breaks through a couple of obviously controversial topics and taboos. It's a good, memorable and mainly atmosphere-driven film, and it's probably so under-appreciated because it got released amidst a large stream of horror movies revolving on murderously wayward and devil-possessed children (all cashing in on the popularity of the aforementioned "The Omen"), like "Bloody Birthday", "The Children of Ravensbeck", "The Orphan" and "The Pit". This wicked gem is rather different to all those titles and actually quite unique in the genre all together. The story grows gradually weirder and scarier, with odd but intriguing cuckoo birds' theories and the deteriorating relationship between the once-inseparable parents. Joanne Boorman and Wilhelmina Green give away impressive performances as Bonnie (both ages). The girl's uncanny eyes are so soul-penetratingly eerie she would form the ideal puppy love interest for Damien of "The Omen" fame. Director Gabrielle Beaumont loses a bit of her grip on the story during the middle-section, resulting in some dull and overlong sequences, but the denouement is again suitably raw and 100% relentless. Definitely not a film – as stated before – for sensitive people. Despite the harrowing and deeply uncomfortable subject matter, the production values remain extremely British at all times, meaning eloquent and sophisticated dialogs, stylish camera-work and nifty set pieces. A very remarkable and impressive film.