Review of Joshua (2007) by Jonathan S — 17 Nov 2008

An amazing character-centered, slice-of-life horror film, following a father attempting to "make it" in the big city, but whose entire life is sabotaged by a sinister child.

Unlike films like "The Omen" (which is no classic, by the way) or "The Good Son," or so many other movies that utilize creepy kids (cause creepy kids--no matter what--are always worth at least one good scare), this movie works as great horror because it taps into one of the great modern fears: that children will ruin our lives. And no, not simply that demon children will ruin our lives (that feels unbelievable, so it isn't a universal fear), but that children--ordinary kids--can kill our sleeping patterns, kill our personalities, kill our careers, kill our marriages, kill our pets (even if accidentally), destroy our happy homes. Some of this movie's scariest moments, in fact, come not from the creepy Joshua, but from the unending cryfest of the baby...she never stops crying, and we slowly watch a marriage disintegrate, two lives disintegrate.

Like "Rosemary's Baby," which let its horror originate not from Satan's child, but from the paranoia of being sick and weak and concerned for your unborn child and having no one believe you that anything is wrong, "Joshua" is an atmospheric and terrifying film that speaks volumes about our current culture's careerism.