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Overall Rating : 3.5/10
Directed By : Tim J. Brown
Lukas Haas (The Tripper)
Emily Hampshire (It's a Boy Girl Thing)
Libby Adams (It's a Boy Girl Thing)
Supplied By : Peace Arch Entertainment/Genius Products
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : July 26, 2007
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| PLOT When Frank and Julie move to a small isolated town with their son Sam, both Julie and Sam become ill. Driven by terrifying nightmares of torture that come true Frank begs a local midwife Helen to care for Sam as he desperately searches for a way to stop this curse on his family. When he discovers they are being tortured by the vengeful spirit of a child that was buried alive years earlier, Frank is pushed to the brink of madness as he tries to stop the ghost and save his dying family. |
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| THE REVIEW Well THE CRADLE is about Frank and his wife Julie, they have just had a newborn named Sam, and to get a little peace and quiet they have purchased a home on a remote island. A writer, Frank also hopes the getaway will offer him some peaceful time to write a book, but since his wife suffers from postpartum depression, due to the birth, Frank finds himself to be virtually the sole caregiver and protector of Sam. At first the new home seems to be exactly what Frank and family had hope fore, it's isolated and quiet, maybe a little too quiet.... that's until things begin to happen. Frank's biggest fear as a new Father is the safety of his family, most importantly his only child, so soon Frank begins to have dreams and hallucinations all involving danger involving Sam. Searching for an answer to the events he is witnessing, he queries with is only neighbor Helen. Helen seems to have an idea as to what's happening, and she believes it has something to due with her Sister whom was buried alive as a newborn. Has the troubled spirit of Helen's Sister resurfaced to harm Frank and Julie's baby, or is it all just Frank going slowly insane? I'm going to let you all in on a secret. I get many films to watch and review in the mail day in and day out, and they truth is, no matter the title or genre, I at least try to find something to like about all of them. But obviously that can't always be the case, as not everyone is likely to like everything they see. Well, THE CRADLE is such a film, I really wanted to like and hoped to like to the fullest. Well, unfortunately I didn't like it as a whole. Honestly the plot is great, and immediately has potential on paper when reading it, it's just a mater of execution and if it is physically done right. It's not until after mid-film that any of the suspense picks up, so there for it takes awhile and the film movies at a relatively slow pace, and may be a little too slow for people that do not want to hang in there. But for those that for that do hang in there, are they going to have enough interest left to unscramble the complicated twists the films hand them, that's one of the film's bigger problems, not to mention the ending is quite confusing. I believe the problem lies in the overdrawn beginning of the film is a little too long, and perhaps had it been trimmed, the plot would've moved along more suitably to accommodate it's content and hopes. In other areas, THE CRADLE is Director Tim J. Brown's Directorial debut, and with that said, overall, he does a fairly good job in creating a very suspenseful atmosphere. The film is also low budget, but you really have to hand it to the production team here as they made the film appear to be much larger scale, the film also uses limited settings and a cast of 3 primary actors to cut cost, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, as it work in their favor. Speaking of the acting, being straight-forward, Lukas Haas is billed solely here as the film's star, and so he should be. Haas was my initial appeal to see this film, I have seen his most recent films, and of course many of his early roles and he shows that he is a true talent here, unfortunately he seems to be surrounded by all things unbalanced from his support to the plot, other than that he does the best with what he has. THE CRADLE is a film with a great script/plot, and it does have some daring scares, but it is a slow beginning and confusing ending, that seem to limit the film's effectiveness all around - it's decent, but I have seen better. |
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| GORE
METER 1/10 I'll give it a 1 for rather disturbing scenes involving a baby... |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 3/10 The score is was rather subtle, and not the suspense filled one you'd expect, it was still ok |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM Before seeing this, I thought I was getting prepared to see a haunted baby flick. I am a fan of all things evil children and babies, so I was excited....unfortunately this really had nothing to do with an evil baby, other than mentioning the spirit of one. Again it was ok, but if you miss it, don't worry too much. This DVD will be released on July 31, 2007 |
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