atinder The Devil's Child (2007) Very slow movie, not much action in the movies, most of the action is actually off screen, You find hard to connect with anyone in this movie. The movie was far to long for me, Kind of drag in some parts, Found first half kind of annoying, With Josh playing the piano and the new born baby crying no-stop, got boring, Mum will starting to losing as she getting fed up of the new born baby, Odd small things happen, that Josh is doing, who is very creepy in every seen he is in. I didn't like the how movie ended at all, the movie stay on one level for all movie, never really pick up! 5 out of 10 Disappoint

Maz Murdoch (asda-man) You don't have to be a genius to work out that the plot doesn't sound too dissimilar to "The Omen" or "Orphan", it even has Vera Farmiga playing the mother again for gods sake! But, "Joshua" is no where near as great as "The Omen" or "Orphan". Don't get me wrong, it isn't the worst film I've seen in my life and it does have terrific strengths, but also weaknesses that drag the film down quite a bit."Joshua" has its own style, it's much more subtle than "Orphan", in "Orphan" we see Esther kill countless people so it's really in your face that she's evil. The twist isn't subtle either. But "Joshua" doesn't make it clear if it's his wrong doing or not. So "Joshua" sets out to be more classy than "Orphan" but also no where near as fun or entertaining. I did like how it was subtle and a bit of a slow-burner but sometimes the pacing got a bit too slow and at times boring, but always engaging.The most impressive thing about "Joshua" is it's atmosphere. It builds up a really tense and uncomfortable atmosphere. It's beautifully bleak and awkward in a good way, not awkward in a bad way like "The Idiots". The boy who plays Joshua is also quite creepy. The unresolved ending also adds to the films creepyness.So if you want a quietly grim and creepy drama with splashes of horror and intellect. "Joshua" is for you. But, I prefer the fun and weirdness of "Orphan".

Chrysanthepop Ratliff's messy psychological thriller seems to have garnered quite some attention. Now there have been many movies centering around a sociopathic child. Most of them pretty much follow the same horror movie type formula where the child is terrorizing an entire family without them even noticing it. Unfortunately, 'Joshua' is no different. Firstly, the movie is filled with plot holes and unexplored questions. For example, why would Brad and Abby keep the video of Abby constantly crying when holding Joshua? Of course, not surprisingly, the psychologists and teachers are portrayed as caricature idiots (who think there's absolutely nothing wrong with this kid). I was also surprised as how distant the parents were from Joshua in the beginning. Perhaps they knew something was off but stayed in denial. The parents too are portrayed as being stupid. They didn't even question Joshua giving all his toys away to charity and disemboweling his teddy bear. Some responses towards this movie are quite disturbing. One reviewer even wrote that he found himself vouching for the kid. I wish there would be a movie that would at least do justice to the themes of a child sociopath rather than rely on clichés. Even the unexplored ending is very easily predictable and dissatisfying. The only non-clichéd angel is that director Ratliff refrained from using blood and gore but that doesn't make this a better movie. He tries to make it creepy by using typical shock tactics but they feel out of place. The so-called 'twists' are quite convenient. The behaviour of most of the characters is irrational. The only plus point of 'Joshua' are the performances. Both Sam Rockwell and Vera Farmiga are very good in spite of having to play poorly written characters. I really wonder why they chose to act in this. Jacob Kogan plays it by the formula. Celia Weston is adequate even though her character is conveniently annoying as hell.Overall, this is just trying to be a 'smarter' version of 'The Omen'. Other than Rockwell and Farmiga's performance, there's nothing going for it. Not even the slow pace.

PhantomAgony I did not enjoy the film, Joshua, at all. Perhaps it is because I saw another, much better similar film titled Orphan 2 days prior but perhaps it's really just because this film was not very good. I am going with the ladder. Sure, the plot of an evil child is not exactly original but that doesn't mean the film could not succeed. It could have been suspenseful and entertaining and chilling but instead it was slow building, boring, uneventful and really didn't leave me thinking anything more than 'that wasn't very good' when it was all over.At the end, Joshua's motivations are revealed. I won't give that away but the reality is that he didn't really accomplish his goals since despite Vera Farmiga as his mother, Abby, disappearing about 3/4th through the movie, all arrows point to her returning home soon. She was committed to a mental institution because she was losing her mind but then Joshua's Father/Her husband was accused of tampering with her medication which tells the audience that the institution realized that she was indeed not mentally ill but rather was being dosed medically. So.. shouldn't she be coming home soon? Won't Joshua have failed? Won't his Mother be living with him and his sister and possibly his Father soon? I question the Father since his future is left open ended.At the end of the day, I didn't care about the characters. The evil demon child Joshua wasn't really scary. The storyline moved slowly and when it picked up it was still boring. Suspense fell flat every single time. When it was over I couldn't believe I had sat through the whole thing. 4/10 just because the acting was good from the parents especially Vera Farmiga as the Mother but if you want to see a movie about an evil 'child' go see Orphan. Now that's a movie that took an unoriginal concept and created a brilliant movie.