Review of Joshua (1976) by Private U — 28 Jul 2008
To its credit, Joshua does what it does well. While hiding the horror from us, we never actually see Joshua do any of the terrible things he does, George Ratliff lets us know how terrifyingly brilliant the title child is. He also creates a creepy little character who will go to any extreme to get his way, but never whine and never throw a fit. The concept of Joshua is scary, the film is not.
It is taut and well constructed, but it lacks the demonic satisfaction of the similar "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Omen".
I ended up disliking the child, not unexpected, and feeling bored. I didn't actually know everything that was happening, but I felt like I did. The result, no suspense.
Not everyone will have the same reaction, but I felt that its tight film making and purposely irritating score were not enough for Joshua to seem much more than mundane.
This review of Joshua (1976) was written by Private U on 28 Jul 2008.
Joshua has generally received mixed reviews.
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