SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

ScoobyWell Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Woodyanders A strange pregnant woman (a memorable and quietly sinister performance by Donald Pleasence's daughter Angela) shows up unexpectedly at a country cottage owned by a young couple with four kids. The woman gives birth to a daughter and then promptly vanishes. The couple decide to raise the girl Bonnie (ably played to the supremely creepy hilt by Joanne Boorman and Wilhelmina Green) as if she was their own, only to have Bonnie grow up to be an evil brat who starts bumping off her other siblings. Director Gabrielle Beaumont, working from a bold and compact script by Olaf Pooley, relates the compellingly twisted story at a hypnotically gradual pace, does an ace job of crafting a grim and unsettling atmosphere, grounds the fantastic premise in a believable workaday reality, and makes nice use of the beautiful bucolic locations. Moreover, Beaumont warrants extra praise for handling the dark and upsetting subject matter in a tasteful and restrained, yet still effective and disturbing manner as well as for using a low-key approach that puts a noted emphasis on an eerie and subtly unnerving mood over cheap shocks and graphic gore. Malcolm Stoddard and Cyd Hayman are solid and credible as the concerned and increasingly distraught parents, with sturdy support from Patrick Barr as friendly physician Dr. Collins. Norman Warwick's sharp cinematography offers several stunning panoramic shots of the breathtaking British countryside. Roger Webb's robust shuddery score hits the spine-tingling spot. This picture acquires an extra chilling sting from its intriguing ambiguity (for example, we never find out exactly why Bonnie is so wicked). Worth a watch.

sol1218 **SPOILERS** Going along the same theme as the "The Omen" the British horror flick "The Godsend" is about an unsuspecting couple Alan & Kate Marlowe who end up adopting a child, whom they named Bonnie, that was left practically on their doorstep by this strange and somewhat deranged woman. It's not that long when the Marlowe's take little Bonnie in as their fifth child that three of their own children, Bradly Davy & Sam, end up dying under mysterious circumstances. What's even stranger about the Marlowe's children's dying is that little Bonnie was at the scenes of every one of their deaths!It's Alan who at first becomes suspicious of Bonnie having something to do with his and Kate's children deaths which has him try to find out just who Bonnie's natural mother-the strange one-really is. While trying to get to the bottom of Bonnie's true parents Alan comes down with an almost fatal illness that renders him sterile. At the same time Kate who was pregnant with Alan's child had a mysterious fall down a flight of stairs that caused her to lose her unborn baby!***SPOILERS*** It soon becomes very apparent to Alan that Bonnie is not the sweet and cuddly child that she makes herself out to be and tries to have her taken away from him and Kate by the town's social services. It's later that Kate in having very strong feelings for Bonnie threatens to divorce Alan if he tries to go through with his plan. It's when the much smaller Bonnie turns her evil attention towards the Marlowe's last surviving child Lucy that even Kate finally realizes what a monster in Bonnie the Marlowe family has in its mist. But by then it's too late for Kate or even Alan, who already knows just what Bonnie is all about, to stop her!The shocking ending of the movie has really nothing to do with Bonnie but her what seems like spaced out and odd-ball mother who really isn't all that mysterious at all. She's been doing this, pawning off her new born children, for some time. And as the movie comes to an end we as well as a shocked down to his socks Alan see that she's got another Bonnie in the wings for some unsuspecting couple to raise and end up suffering the very same fate that he and and his wife Kate are experiencing right now!

Tromafreak British Horror rocks, and that's all there is to it. British Horror certainly isn't the goriest I've come across. Maybe not the most action-packed, or the scariest, but at least some would agree that there is just something about British Horror.The Godsend is as shamefully underrated as anything I've seen from over there. This movie may be no Psychomania, and it sure ain't the masterpiece Vampyres is, but this is a good movie, nonetheless. A chillin' little British family (with far too many kids) comes across a stranded pregnant woman, who, you can tell is no good.. The unsuspecting couple lets their creepy, new friend stay over for a while, or at least long enough for her the have the kid and fly the coop before anyone notices. A problem easily solved, right? Wrong, the wife figures they don't have enough kids, already, oh, what's one more? At this point, any sensible B-Horror fan might wonder why the less-emotional man of the family doesn't just step in and at least suggest they give the little girl up for adoption, considering the other countless mouths to feed.. But if it had gone down like that, who would kill all their real kids? Not much of a Horror movie there. I take it, the pregnant woman from earlier, makes a habit of dropping off her demonic (?) offspring into the laps of unsuspecting families, although, hopefully, not all her victims are stupid enough to keep the kid. Could be wrong, but I don't think this is available on DVD yet, oh well, an old Vestron tape is good enough for me. Apparently, some compare The Godsend to The Omen. In my opinion, it's more like The Bad Seed, which, just so you know, is far superior to both The Godsend and The Omen. If you don't expect an action-packed, thrill-ride, or any type of a masterpiece, and are in the mood for some low-key, retro Horror, that doesn't require your absolute, undivided attention, you just might not hate The Godsend. Recommended to fans of British Horror, and especially killer kid flicks. 7/10

Lee Eisenberg Another movie about a seemingly cute child with a not-so-cute side; Portland's video/DVD store Movie Madness has in the horror section a whole shelf devoted to Killer Kids. In this case, a typical English family one day picks up a woman who gives birth in their house and then disappears without a trace, leaving her infant daughter with them. Sure enough, their children start getting killed. Basically a rehash of "The Bad Seed", "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Omen". Still, "The Godsend" has a neat side, as the vicious little girl makes some faces that no one would ever associate with a little girl; she did look kind of scary.But in the grand scheme of things, there's nothing new or important about this movie. Not to mention that it ends rather abruptly. Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus produced much better movies over the years. This is the sort of flick that you rent if there's absolutely nothing else available.