Joshua 2007

Tom Long, Detroit News: Writer-director George Ratliff may have intended to make a movie no one would enjoy. He's succeeded. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: As horror flicks go this is both smart and suspenseful. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: Spooky, relatively realistic, grounded in psychology rather than displays of gore, it could be just the thing to rejuvenate the fading horror genre. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: It's regrettable that Joshua veers into outlandish Omen/Bad Seed/Good Son territory. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: You can tell the movie wants to be a kind of Rosemary's Baby or The Omen. But it wants that all too desperately. Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: Clever performances and great atmospherics compensate for the gaps in logic. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: One of the better entries in the creepy-kid genre, Joshua is a bit like The Omen without the supernaturalism. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Joshua does grow a bit repetitious (it lacks the cathartic climaxes of a horror film), yet it has cool and savvy fun with your fears. Read more

Mark Bourne, Film.com: ...a bewildering extension rather than a retread of this played-out subgenre. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: An unnerving thriller that has a lot more on its maniacal mind than giving us the willies. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: At once familiar and yet startlingly inventive and thrilling. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: Part of the fun of Joshua is the skill with which [director] Ratliff juggles horror and realism, feeding one into the other until we become part of the unraveling of the Cairns' perfect life. Read more

Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: Sickeningly creepy. Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: All of this goes down very, very slowly. Joshua aspires to be a kind of Rosemary's Baby's Older Brother by way of Gaslight, but it lacks the dynamism and atmosphere of either of those inspirations. Read more

Shauna Lyon, New Yorker: Fairly absorbing film. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Works best as a drama of family decay. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: It's not exactly light summer entertainment. With its emphasis on paranoia and perversion, Joshua is closer in spirit to fringe films like Eraserhead than mainstream horror movies like The Omen. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR.org: Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: With deliberate pacing, well-placed scares, and a pitch-black sense of humor, [George] Ratliff keeps us guessing until the stunner finish. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Overall it delivers some genuine old-school chills -- something that was missing when Macaulay Culkin played a similar role in The Good Son. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Joshua is a reason for applause. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: A twisty, chilly vision of haute-yuppie parenting as unrelenting nightmare, an ingenious reworking of the demon-seed genre in which the evil child is not the real villain. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: If you've never wanted to punch a child in the face, see Joshua and discover a whole new side of yourself. Read more

Teresa Budasi, Chicago Sun-Times: A psychological thriller that's not only lovely to look at but also intriguing enough to keep you guessing until the end. And even then you may not have figured it out. Read more

Jennie Punter, Globe and Mail: A fascinating, if chilling, break from the season's usual summer movie thrills -- especially for parents-to-be. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: Ratliff's movie almost succeeds in hurtling over the trenches it digs for itself in an increasingly ludicrous third act. But not quite. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: A tense, visually interesting tale that is ultimately a bit barren. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Boasts enough in the way of sharp acting, as well as visual and musical smarts, to give the psychological twists and turns a respectable aesthetic context. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: It's refreshing to see a horror film based on adult anxieties: The terror of the baby cam can only be overcome by more terror. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Harrowing, controlled and diabolically self-assured, Joshua leaves filmgoers teetering on their own emotional precipice, wondering just where pathos ends and pathology begins. Read more