The New Daughter [Blu-ray] ReviewsThe New Daughter [Blu-ray]
Academy Award® winner Kevin Costner stars in this brand-new thriller as John, a newly divorced father who moves into a rural South Carolina home with his adolescent daughter Louisa and young son Sam. But when Louisa begins to behave in a bizarre and increasingly violent manner, John must uncover the truth behind her transformation. Is the former owner s shocking secret to blame? And how far will a father go to protect his daughter from an ancient evil determined to take her over?Muddy footprint
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(out of 13 reviews)
Review by Robin Simmons for The New Daughter [Blu-ray]
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Limited theatrical release and then a quick appearance on DVD and Blu-ray retail shelves is usually a sign of a less than engrossing film.
But not always.
Although I am not a Kevin Costner fan, I was not bored by this involving, weird, atmospheric little horror story set in rural, contemporary South Carolina. Costner’s performance is low key (some critics have called it “wooden”) as single father, writer, John James who is trying to rebuild his family after a painful divorce and further burdened with sole custody and the all the requisite obligations of raising his teenage daughter Louisa (a terrific Ivana Baquero) and son (Gattlin Griffith).
The three have just moved into a remote house in a new location – a location apparently sacred to ancient dwellers on the land. There’s a prominent burial mound on the property of peculiar interest to the James kids and to university anthropologists. As events unfold, Costner’s character wrongly assumes the problems and challenges of his children are due to his limited parenting skills. He is wrong. The threats facing him and his children are ancient and evil and deadly.
I was surprised how much I enjoyed this little horror exercise. I liked the way it looked and the surprising story that was not telegraphed by the title of the box art. This is Luis Berdejo’s directorial debut of an English language film. He also wrote the screenplay for QUARANTINE. He has a fine eye and ear for understated, moody, unsettling horror that creeps up on you and goes a little further than you expect. He is skilled at drawing the viewer into a slightly surreal universe in the midst of an ordinary, sunny day. Samantha Mathis co-stars as a concerned and friendly teacher. John Travis adapted the screenplay from a short story by John Connolly.
Review by David Steven Clee for The New Daughter [Blu-ray]
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Well not expecting much from this movie, I was pleasantly surpised. Popped it in the blu ray, turned all the lights
off in the home theatre and I became quite drawn in to this movie.
The film maintains an eerie feel through out and definitely follows the ” less you see, more you imagine” theme to it which I liked.
Would I buy this movie ? No…But felt it justified the rental $$.
At the end of the day a movie is supposed to entertain and this did.
Cheers
Review by Mark Turner for The New Daughter [Blu-ray]
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As one gets older, you have the chance to watch great actors suddenly fall from grace. Some do so simply by getting older. Others do so by being put into movies that offer them up as the best part of the film. Such is the case with the release this week of THE NEW DAUGHTER starring Kevin Costner.
Costner plays John James, a recent divorcee who has moved his children to a rural town called Mercy in South Carolina. Son Sam (Gattlin Griffin) has no problems with the move. But daughter Louisa (Ivanna Banquero) is the typical troublesome teen, taking her anger out on dad while honestly feeling as if her mother has abandoned the entire family.
The James family has moved into a fairly large house, the stately two story southern white house with a large front porch. Here, John hopes to get back on track writing once more. The kids find the place incredibly boring and go exploring the grounds. Its there that they come across something odd, a mound in the woods nearby that seems to hold a mysterious fascination for Louisa. Gee, what are the odds that something mysterious will involve the mound?
As the kids begin to adapt to their new locale and new school, Louisa finds herself picked on by one of the girls in her class. Not one to start anything, the incident goes unreported. But anyone who’s seen a film of this sort knows that the girl will eventually get what’s coming to her.
As the film progresses, Louisa begins to act stranger with each passing day. Sleepwalking that leaves tracks of dirt and mud through that house as she wanders to the mound, covered in dirt when she comes home and more lead John to suspect something just isn’t right. But he’s not quite sure if it’s something with the new locale, the divorce, a friendship with his son’s teacher (played by Samantha Mathis) or just a guilt trip where he fells he’s a bad parent.
Blatant metaphor time! Throughout the film we see young Sam having to deal with a science project from school. It’s an ant farm and he watches with a keen interest as the ants slowly begin to seem to die, only to reveal later that they were in fact just waiting for the new queen to emerge. For those not in the know, this is a blatant smack in the face hint at what’s to come.
As John begins to look deeper into things, he learns that the house has a history. The last owners fled the house and took up elsewhere. And in their new location, the young daughter of the previous owner was killed in a fire in their new house. When John goes there to investigate, the grandfather is still living in the charred remains of the house and talks to John about doing what needs to be done, describing how he burned the house and his granddaughter in it. Repulsed by his admission, John leaves and heads home.
I could ruin the film and fill in the details of the last portion of the film but a few of you might actually enjoy the film. And in truth, while it is rather obvious in the things that happen, it still offers a mild piece of entertainment. It’s not the worst movie I’ve ever seen and it’s very well made. It just all feels so obvious.
Costner deserves better than this. He’s had his share of megaflops (that I’ve actually enjoyed including WATERWORLD and THE POSTMAN) but we also need to remember this is the star of FIELD OF DREAMS and DANCES WITH WOLVES. Costner has always reminded me of Gary Cooper in his aw shucks way and obvious ability to bring forth a good character. Let’s just hope that Costner can finally get back on track with something that uses his talents better than this.
I was hard pressed to decide if this film deserved 3 or 4 stars. On the whole, it was rather simple, plenty obvious in where it was going for a horror fan and offered little suspense. But there was a part of me that enjoyed it anyway, knowing that yes there might come a day when I’ll pull this one out to watch again. To me, that’s the kicker. If I’ll watch it again, it gets bumped up a notch. And this one is enjoyable for Costner’s performance if nothing else.
Review by Decendent of the Mound Builders for The New Daughter [Blu-ray]
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What was good about this movie? Kevin Costner is a good actor.
What wasn’t? The whole flow of the story was chaos. Ant people associated with Native American mounds?!?!? Plllleeeaaaase! That was an insult to my ancestors who built these mounds in the south! What was with the spiders in the doll? What did that have to do with ants? What was the relevance of those nest looking things in the closet? Not to mention the total misperceptions placed on Native American ancient history of the mounds, there was no consistency or flow to the actual scary parts of this movie. In addition, what were the bites on her back? Were they spider bites? Were they ant bites? All in all this movie lacked all of the necessary ingredients that make a quality movie. I feel sorry for all of those people who spent their hard earned money.
Review by Glenn A. Smith for The New Daughter [Blu-ray]
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Mr Kevin Costner must’ve owed someone a movie, because this had to be the worst written movie he’s ever been in! I still can’t believe the storyline of basically, Kevin’s daughter being chosen as the Queen ant to reproduce in an Ant Mound called an Ancient Indian burial. You can’t make this stuff up, Unbelievable! Don’t waste your time or money.