[5.00/10] The New Daughter (2009)

The New Daughter (2009)

Taking it down a few notches from co-writing the claustrophobic horror masterpiece “[Rec]” and 2008’s “Quarantine”, Luis Berdejo decided to direct his first English-language film from John Connolly’s short novel. To start with the obvious, "The New Daughter" represents what may be Costner's most lazy performance. It seems he has no interest in the story whatsoever. Here he has to carry a lot of screen time and emotion, and fails on both big time. The talented Ivana Baquero, who played Ofelia in Guillermo del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth" steals every scene she’s in with her intensity and presence. "The New Daughter" could have been a much better film if the first hour of the film did not drag with its lackluster suspense and story that seems to be going nowhere.The real action and horror of the film seem to all take place at the end, but by then, it’s all too late. The film has good production value with some basic location sets and some good special make-up effects. It has that old school thriller feel going on for it and both, photography and cinematography is gorgeous. There are loads of false scares in "The New Daughter". The sound designers must have loved playing with this. Unfortunately, they never add up to much, as tension is lost or broken, or not even capitalized on. Overall, "The New Daughter" feels a bit like a made-for-TV horror/thriller that borrows liberally from similar movies, but is still watchable and occasionally entertaining little horror.

• My Rating: 5.00/10
• Rotten Tomatoes: 29% (4.4/10)
• IMDb: 5.4/10