Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Blistering performances.

I am an irredeemable sucker for subtlety and mystery. I love when a movie does not explain much, while being coherent and clearly drawing your attention. I love it when two people in a movie watch one another, smiling on the outside, one of them absolutely convinced he's pierced the other's masquerade, only for the mutual watching to linger long enough for you to wonder if indeed he has, or if maybe he is the one imagining a conspiracy that isn't there. There's a scene just like this in the film, where Brad (Sam Rockwell) is protectively clutching his newborn daughter in a doctor's office while staring down his son Joshua (Jacob Kogan), smiling with a hint of hysterical glee, after having caught his son murdering his mother out in public by throwing her down the steps of a museum. After weeks of odd, seemingly sociopathic behavior from Joshua, he's absolutely convinced that he's caught him. Yet the way Joshua continues to blandly stare back, almost teasing him with the recognizing stare of a villain coyly revealing their sinister intent to a hero without openly stating so. And yet there's still no way to really tell if there is an actual evil there. Everything about the way the movie starts off and moves up to this point is subtle, with Abby (Vera Farmiga) clearly suffering some manner of post-partum stress or depression, overwhelmed by her newborn daughter incessantly crying all day every day, while her lackadaisical husband keeps making light of her stress. All the while Joshua just watches, lurking suspiciously, but never openly showing himself to be some supernatural horror movie demon child or psychopath. In fact, his behavior is not at all immoral so much as genuine in its childlike desire for attention and satisfaction. He never overtly threatens the newborn child or says "I hate you" to its face, but he very clearly resents that he's not the center of attention any longer, and rather than behave with uncharacteristic violence, he passively goes about on his own path, studying ancient Egyptian myth, giving his toys away to Goodwill, and so on. Sometimes it seems as though he has autism, as he repeats random sentences other people say, watches them to gauge their reaction, then copy their reaction so as to fit in. At the same time, it's placed in the context of mysterious, malevolent events that makes you wonder; is he genuinely confused and trying to fit in, or is he trying to fit in so as not to draw suspicion to himself as he commits violent acts, such as when he takes his father's dog out for a walk, only for the dog to mysteriously and suspiciously drop dead in the kitchen afterwards. He blankly watches his father sob over the dog, then abruptly drops to his knees beside him and starts to cry over the dog. Did he simply not know how to react until he saw his father's reaction, or was he trying not to arouse suspicion by his persistent emotionless staring?At some point in the film, it becomes almost clear that it is not an innocent case of potentially autistic child trying to fit in, but something clearly malevolent about him. And yet the mere fact that he allows his father to catch on to his supposed act starts to make you wonder... Is the child truly a psychopath, wantonly destroying people and killing animals around him, while mocking his father, hurting himself and drawing violent drawings for a therapist so as to make people think Brad is abusing him? Or is Brad imagining a malevolence that isn't there? He's clearly frustrated and suffering from the pressures of work and home and an abrasive mother and distressed wife.The film is never explicit or implicit in indicating that anything Brad sees or catches on to the behavior of his son is real or imagined, yet the absolute subtlety of it all, and the fact that Joshua never appears to actually do or say much that is outright "evil" or violent whenever his father isn't around. All of it seems aimed at harassing his father, and yet it may not be. His prime motivation for all of it seems to be love; he's obsessed with being loved and often uses love like a weapon against his father, including provoking him by saying "No one will ever love you", which provokes such a violent reaction from his father that there may in fact be some in-mentioned trauma in Brad's past that is not explicitly delved into, but may be hinted at in his tense relationship with his mother. This is a rare film where every sort of scene seems to be adding on to the overall plot of the film, in ways you're not sure are intentional or else an incredibly stylish way to cover potential plot holes. It's astounding how incredible this film is, a gaslighting psychological mystery packaged and sold in a mundane "spooky child terrorizes family" wrapper.

Watched this from the telly without any prior knowledge. Looked interesting in the trailer and i had never heard of it. Rockwell and Farmiga are quite capable actors, so why not.The movie was being marketed as a horror movie, the week before they showed 28 Weeks Later, so I was expecting something a bit more horrorish, but this turned out to be more of a psychological thriller and drama. Which isn't a bad thing tho, but for some reason I got the impression from the ads that this was kind of a modern Damien thing. Not really.Root down, this movie could've been a study of how kids act when the family gets another baby. Joshua here becomes a big brother and they have many scenes where they clearly show that the new baby gets more attention than Joshua. On the otherhand Joshua is said to have been a "difficult" one from the beginning. There is also a hint that there is some mental illness in the family as the mother played by Vera Farmiga has mental issues.The mental illness part and becoming a bigger brother would've been enough for me, but they also clearly show that Joshua is getting quite a free upbringing as they let him go by his own in a big city. I'm quite sure this is an intentional choice as they discuss it at one point. Then there is this idea that Joshuas dad (Sam Rockwell) maybe wants Joshua to be a bit different. The dad is clearly a "buddy" kind of man. Even tho he's obviously smart and well educated - working in finance - he likes sports and most likely listens to some kind of pop/rock on his iPod and jams along. Joshua on the otherhand is booksmart, not interested in sports and so on..Oh, and then there's even an overly religious grand mother, which adds the religion factor you have come to expect in a movie like this, but which in my opinion wasn't needed at all.During the movie, Joshua is shown to do all kinds of weird things making his parents crazy and you're not really sure if he's the devil himself incarnated or just a messed up kid. Or just a different kind of kid pushing his boundaries.I'm gonna give the ending away, so stop reading now if you don't want to know it. In the end it seems as if Joshua played the whole thing to be able to be with his uncle who is a bit like Joshua - not necessarily like the others in society. So in the end it seems as if Joshua was the smart one, just not getting along with his parents at all. Sort of a mismatch of parents and their child. I'm not quite sure what to make of this movie, since it had so many things going on. Clues, explanations, hints of supernatural stuff, religion, mental illness.. none of them really paying off.It's not The Omen, not The Exorcist, not Rosemary's Baby.. for sure. It was an interesting take on "a child genius", dressed up as a thriller, even a bit horrorish at times. It's rather good, but don't expect it to be a full blown horror movie.

I watched the whole movie, waiting and waiting for something to actually happen. Maybe it's my fault for expecting evil and horror instead of psychology? Is it a weird re-telling of the Oedipal myth: I want to kill my father and mother and marry my uncle and compose musical theater with him? I didn't understand why certain plot elements were even present: why was the construction upstairs, why was there that big stairwell with a perfect spot for someone to fall to their doom if no one was actually going to do so, why have the scenes at all with the father at work, why have such a nice kitchen if you're only going to eat takeout, why would the boy want to be baptized and the parents be the ones to resist instead of the other way around. I see lots of good reviews for this movie...has my taste been corrupted by going up with 70s b-movies and old sci fi flicks?

I did not enjoy the film, Joshua, at all. Perhaps it is because I saw another, much better similar film titled Orphan 2 days prior but perhaps it's really just because this film was not very good. I am going with the ladder. Sure, the plot of an evil child is not exactly original but that doesn't mean the film could not succeed. It could have been suspenseful and entertaining and chilling but instead it was slow building, boring, uneventful and really didn't leave me thinking anything more than 'that wasn't very good' when it was all over.At the end, Joshua's motivations are revealed. I won't give that away but the reality is that he didn't really accomplish his goals since despite Vera Farmiga as his mother, Abby, disappearing about 3/4th through the movie, all arrows point to her returning home soon. She was committed to a mental institution because she was losing her mind but then Joshua's Father/Her husband was accused of tampering with her medication which tells the audience that the institution realized that she was indeed not mentally ill but rather was being dosed medically. So.. shouldn't she be coming home soon? Won't Joshua have failed? Won't his Mother be living with him and his sister and possibly his Father soon? I question the Father since his future is left open ended.At the end of the day, I didn't care about the characters. The evil demon child Joshua wasn't really scary. The storyline moved slowly and when it picked up it was still boring. Suspense fell flat every single time. When it was over I couldn't believe I had sat through the whole thing. 4/10 just because the acting was good from the parents especially Vera Farmiga as the Mother but if you want to see a movie about an evil 'child' go see Orphan. Now that's a movie that took an unoriginal concept and created a brilliant movie.