Lots of evil children have stalked across the screen since 1960’s Village of the Damned, but I can’t think of one that has been as chillingly effective as the titular prodigy in George Ratliff’s enrgossing psycho thriller. We’ve seen a lot of this before, but the film works because Ratliff anchors the growing horror in a realistic family drama involving postpartum depression, interfaith squabbles, and the tensions between success at home and success at the office, thus showing with unflinching power how evil works, not via supernatural spectacle, but by knowing exactly which buttons to push. (DVD)