Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Recently, I have not seen any new Costner Films but as I was browsing my local FYE (For Your Entertainment) Store I saw this film in the Horror section. I saw it stared Kevin Costner and that it was made in 2009 which is not too new but kind of recent. I had to buy it because Kevin Costner is a great actor and I love his films. So I bought it and watched it. This movie "The New Daughter" is not a bad film, I believe Kevin Costner deserves more but I wasn't disappointed. The story is about a single, divorced Dad John James who moves his two children into a woodland area home. He is a writer, and is struggling to make ends meet financially and with his kids emotionally, who are effected by the recent divorce. As the family settles in, strange sounds and events occur. Eventually, the family discovers a mysterious mound in the woods and then things start to get bad from there. The daughter starts to act weird and does strange things, which concerns James. The movie was good, for a horror movie it had it's surprises and jumps and the story was really good too. Kevin is at his best with his American acting style. The girl who played the daughter Louisa was great and she freaked you out a lot as well, the little boy Sam was good too, very talented young actors. The part that really stumped me was the ending though, I was like "What the Heck!!?" but then after hearing the directors commentary I understood and have my own ending of the film."The New Daughter" is a great horror and popcorn movie and it's great with Kevin Costner in it. I didn't recognize any other actor/actresses in the film but they did a great job as well. And it's interesting how it's a horror movie with native american lore in it which I find really cool. I give Kevin Costner's "The New Daughter" an 8/10

This is perhaps the worse Costner film except for that Water World thing. The movie starts out great. It has a 4 to 5 star beginning. The setting is a fictional town called Mercy, South Carolina. PLOT SPOILER: It is based on Bishopville, home of the infamous Lizard Man. After Costner gets the boot from his wife, he moves into a fine southern plantation home with his snotty teenage daughter and normal son. The daughter becomes obsessed with an old Indian burial mound in their back yard (funny that the state hasn't declared it an archaeological treasure and put a fence around it). The house has a strange "history," but only the black people in town seem to know it. Louisa, played by Ivana Baquero, does an excellent job as the moody teen girl. It reminded me of the teen girl in Uncle Buck. You just want to smack her. The plot is predictable, which isn't all bad, after all we knew how The Passion was going to end and we went to see it. Rate this one low on your Netflix list.

So much potential here. I mean, what human with eyes doesn't want to watch Kevin Costner? I'd watch him stare at a wall for an hour. Sadly, this unique premise turned predictable (with the exepction of the last 30 seconds before the predictable end) and anticlimactic. It is not scary. The "boogie man/men" of the movie were filks in a latex suits with the same ol' weird face, high-pitched scream and long dirty fingernails. Other than Kevin, the acting was lacking and it made it hard for me to care about or connect with any character. It kills me when I see a cool premise turned to "meh". Watch if you'd like but it won't blow your socks of or scare you. (Two stars for the writer, one for Kevin).

I kept thinking Costner must have had an impending balloon payment due; why else would he agree to star in such a ghastly movie. Surely he had to know, at one point during filming, that this was a howler. I am also surprised that Samantha Mathis signed on. While she isn't stellar, she is a decent actress and has appeared in some fine films, i.e. "Jack and Sarah." The rest of the cast was new to me and while the storyline did not permit any breakaway performances, I think the little boy has a future in movies. Can't say the same for any of the other leads. Anyway, I am left with several pithy questions: (1) what was the purpose of shotgun in this tale; and (2) the more burning question: Why the heck did I stay tuned?