one of my absolute favorites!

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

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.

Although I haven't watched this movie in at least seven years, I have always enjoyed watching it. I personally thought that the movie was a great one to watch. It may be on the low end of horror flicks as far as bloodiness and actually murder scenes, but it does get the point across. I have been unable to find this movie in video stores, even ones with older movies. So, even if anyone wants to watch the movie it may be hard to find. I truly loved the context of the movie. I think that it does show the lack of technology that we had in the 1980's compared to now, but I have seen many movies from the 1980's that are about the same in the technology area. However, it doesn't make them bad. However, this is just my opinion.

A nice, young British couple with three (or four--I forgot) children meet a heavily pregnant woman in a park. They invite her home with them. During the night she gives birth and leaves without them knowing it. They decide to bring up the baby as their own. What they don't know is that the baby is evil and wants all their attention...even if it means killing off her siblings to get it...Rightly forgotten 1980 horror film. The book was very scary and well-written...this adaptation is faithful (except for a stupid changed ending) but the acting is bad and the direction is really, really off. The killings are bloodless and happen offscreen--how this thing got an R rating is beyond me. Dull, trite and forgettable. It was originally advertised with the tagline "For God's sake...take it back!" Trust it.

This movie is not connected to, a rip off of or inspired by The Omen. Just because both happen to be about an evil child doesn't mean a thing. The Godsend is pure science fiction: what if there was a sub-species of humans who bred the same way the cuckoo does. This bird has the nasty habit of laying it's eggs in the nests of birds of other species. The baby cuckoo imitates the calls of its nestmates so the unwilling adoptive parents are none the wiser. At its first opportunity the baby cuckoo murders the other babies by pushing them out of the nest. That's what this movie was about.