31 Nights of Halloween Horror - The Godsend

 The Godsend
93 mins.
Dir. Gabrielle Beaumont
1980/UK




I have said it before and I will say it again.  Kids are creepy.  Those annoying little buggers can be some of the most frightening elements in horror movies.  I am not buying into their innocence for nothing.  I know what evil lurks behind those unforgiving eyes.  The British entry into the creepy kid movie in the 80s was the often overlooked but quite unnerving film, The Godsend.

A happy family of six are out spending a day at the lake.  Alex and Kate Marlowe and their four kids are heading home when Kate meets a strange pregnant woman played perfectly by Angela Pleasance (Donald Pleasance's daughter).  Kate invites her home and they all kind of sit around and stare at each other in uncomfortable silence not knowing what to say.  Pregnant lady just sits there and stares.  Eventually Alex does the "boy, it sure is getting late, I'll drive you home." yawn thing.  But as they are about to leave the strange pregnant woman goes into labor.  A short time later she gives birth to a baby girl in the Marlowe's house.  Next morning the strange woman has split and left her baby behind.  So Alex and Kate decide they will keep the little girl, name her Bonnie and raiser her as one of their own.  Because hey, fours kids is not enough.  Eight is.  Har, har har.



In a grim sequence of events each one of the Marlowe's kids dies, from their newborn baby up to their eldest child.  At first it all seems like accidents, but Alex starts to suspect that Bonnie is actually involved in their deaths.  His wife refuses to believe that an innocent child could be capable of such horrors and a rift develops between the two parents.  But we know kids aren't innocent and this one is definitely up to something.

British horror in the 70s & 80s was mostly always story driven and rarely a bloody effects filled flick.  The Godsend is no different and doesn't break the formula.  Why is this kid so fucking evil is never explained.  It is all as mysterious as how she arrived.  But the story is paced well enough to enjoy,(though when all the kids start dying off, I would think you might be a little more emotional, whereas Alex for the most part just tells his wife to walk it off.). The little girl who plays Bonnie is very effective at being creepy as fuck with her platinum blonde hair and menacing glare, just like the little boy in The Omen.  Looking for another evil kid movie to add to your watch list, The Godsend is a good one.  Now if you want to make the scariest movie in the world, just put some creepy kids riding giant spiders and boom.  Instant shit-your-pants-fest.





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