The Evil Kid genre of horror films has been a fruitful one, giving birth to such memorable creepazoids as Damien in “The Omen” and the glowing-eyed tots from “Village of the Damned.”
There’s another bad seed around in “Joshua,” a civilized, intelligent approach to the subject. More realistic than most flat-out horror pictures, this one sneaks up on you. But it’ll still creep you out.
Most of the drama takes place in the roomy Manhattan apartment of a somewhat vacuous couple, Brad and Abby Cairn, played by Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga. They have a new baby, an arrival not welcomed by their 9-year-old son Joshua (Jacob Kogan).
There’s something off about Joshua. His gaze is too blank, and his appearance too neat (his dad wonders if his hair is made out of plastic). Yet he doesn’t seem to do anything aggressively nasty.
As the movie unfolds, we infer that Joshua’s parents find him a little weird, and that his birth set off some kind of postpartum depression in his mother. She’s worried about a repeat of that – everybody, meddling mother-in-law (Celia Weston) included, is worried about that.
All of this unfolds in a peculiar, clipped rollout, where we get just enough plot information and behavioral quirks to infer certain sinister things about the characters. It feels a little like the dread-inducing style used by Roman Polanski in “Rosemary’s Baby” or Stanley Kubrick in “The Shining.”
But instead of the steady, stately approach of those filmmakers, director George Ratliff uses a handheld camera and furtive humor. The offhand feel makes the menace more everyday, and probably enhances the truthfulness of the actors.
And they’re good. Young Jacob Kogan is stiff as Joshua, but that fits the role. Dallas Roberts is ethereal as Abby’s brother, evidently gay and oddly close to his sister. Vera Farmiga, who has been burning up the screen in small parts for years (including last year’s “The Departed”) gives a smart performance, which becomes more unhinged as the movie goes on.
Sam Rockwell usually plays to his comic talents, from his role as game show host/spy Chuck Barris in “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” to a double-headed alien in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” Here he does an amazing job of sketching a basically hollow hero, a guy whose absorption in work and glibness of manner (he calls his son “Buddy” and “pal” as though he can’t remember his name) might have helped create the little monster at home.
David Gilbert’s script starts to wobble toward the end, when all the cool intimations must be paid off. The psychological horror turns physical, which isn’t enough to wreck an intriguing build-up.
Sam Rockwell, Jacob Kogan and Vera Farmiga in “Joshua.”
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