Review of The New Daughter (2009) by Mark P — 30 Oct 2010

I was all set to have a good laugh at this one, everything seemed right: soccer-mom pin-up Costner, dubious title and straight-to-DVD... It turned out to be something else. I'm not sure how this got in under the radar, but if you like your films creepy and completely unpredictable its damn near unmissable.

Things start out fairly hum-drum with Costner's character moving his two kids to a remote town and even remoter new house. The teen girl is obnoxious, which they usually are, but then something starts to go wrong with her.

From here the momentum builds as you try to work out, alongside Costner, just what the frick is going in with his daughter and her obsession with a bizarre mound in their garden. Various ideas are introduced into the mix: ancient civilizations, deities that lived in the earth, gross insects, aliens? As the truth begins to unravel Costner transforms from an insecure father, unsure of how to deal with his adolescent daughter, to the shotgun toting hero we all knew was lurking inside.

The final act is genuinely gripping and disturbing as he fights to save his daughter. While perhaps not scary in the traditional sense this one has the spine-tingling edge and psychological twitches to keep anyone on their toes.

It was in no way formulaic, and it managed to be chilling without showing too much gore. Most important of all the evil beings are never shown for too long and even then, not gratuitously, which builds up suspense in a manner not unlike the first Alien movie.

True there's no hot chicks screaming or chainsaw slo-mo's to lure you into watching this, and it doesn't help that Costner's done some real crap of late but it's a real diamond in the rough.