Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.0

The Godsend Blu-ray Movie Review

'Omen' or "Oh, man!"?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 23, 2015

Note: This film is available as part of the Scream Factory double feature The Outing / The Godsend.

The term “lesser of two evils” can be taken more than one way when assessing the strange and frankly at best middling double feature of The Outing and Godsend offered by Shout! Factory’s imprint Scream Factory on this Blu-ray release. There are of course “evils” abounding in each of these films, courtesy of either a demonic genie or a demonic child. But neither film ever whips up much suspense, despite appealing enough premises (however derivative they may be). The Outing has a somewhat convoluted history that helps to explain at least some of its incoherence, and The Godsend has a tamped down approach that keeps its problematic subject matter of little kiddies getting killed one by one in a kind of weirdly traditional British stiff upper lip ambience, but neither film ever ends up delivering the goods, either dramatically or (more importantly for a horror outing) from a fright perspective. As with so many horror films that Scream Factory has released over the past couple of years, each of these outings (sorry) has attained a considerable cult following, though as with many horror film cults, watching The Outing and The Godsend now in the cold, clear light of day, and without the rose colored glasses of youthful samplings of nascent cable television fare may prove to be eye opening (and not in a good way) for even the most ardent fan.

A lot of horror film fans seem to almost automatically think of The Omen when it comes to cinematic possessed children, but of course there are many antecedents that traffic in at least something of the same ambience, including the great old sci-fi Village of the Damned. Like Village of the Damned, The Godsend is based in England and it, too, features an almost albino looking child who would have been right at home at any Aryan Youth gathering. In this case, there’s not a whole horde of kids wreaking havoc on the general populace, but instead a lone little girl named Bonnie (Wilhelmina Green for the bulk of the film) who is adopted by an idyllic British family after her mother (Angela Pleasance, Donald’s daughter) pretty much just ups and vanishes after giving birth to the little girl in the family’s home.

The Godsend is never able to overcome some structural issues, though it has a couple of spooky death scenes (including one which oddly presages a moment in Nicolas Roeg’s Don't Look Now). Part of this disconnect occurs because, while the well meaning parents (Malcolm Stoddard and Cyd Hayman) can’t quite grasp the full import of what starts happening to their biological children, the audience is only all too aware of what’s going on. Within the context of the parents, there’s supposed to be a certain amount of ambiguity, but when the treatment is so literal, there’s little doubt as to how things are going to play out.

The other odd element, one which affects the film’s overall tone, is its really bizarrely sanguine approach to a series of at times rather disturbing children’s deaths. As mentioned above, at least part of this might be ascribed to that stiff upper lip ethos for which the British are so well known, but part of it is definitely scripting (and even editing), wherein gruesome moments are simply allowed to float by without seeming to have any serious emotional repercussions. (Why would these parents continue to leave their surviving kids unattended after even one “mysterious” death, let alone several?)

Still, there’s a slightly dreamlike (and/or nightmarish) quality to The Godsend that allows the film to overcome at least some of its narrative and tonal hiccups. Performances are uniformly quite good, including a neatly enigmatic turn by Pleasance, who in fact resembles something like an all grown up version of one of those blonde terrors in Village of the Damned. With a little more actual ambiguity, especially as the film trundles along, The Godsend might have been more effective. As it stands, it’s fitfully engaging but ultimately kind of silly.

The Godsend Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Godsend is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. While somewhat soft looking and perhaps just slightly faded, The Godsend looks a good deal better than its double feature sibling The Outing, with above average detail and decent clarity. There's an intentionally gauzy look to quite a bit of this film (see screenshot 5), but close-ups still offer some commendable fine detail. A lot of the film takes place in relatively brightly lit (often outdoor) environments, something that helps support detail. Grain is well resolved and engenders no compression issues.

The Godsend Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Godsend features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono mix which capably supports this largely dialogue driven film. A few passing sound effects, especially in some outdoor sequences, offer a bit of sonic life to the proceedings, and Roger Webb's nice score is also offered very cleanly. While narrow and lacking much dynamic range, the track is problem free and delivers all of its components with very good prioritization.

The Godsend Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:55)

The Godsend Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Godsend simply tips its hand too early to ever really build up any actual suspense. Instead, there is a series of admittedly disturbing vignettes where kids get killed, which may be enough to lure some diehard horror fans in. The film has an undeniably effective mood, but it's undercut by predictable plotting and some pretty silly dialogue. Despite an improbable premise, the actors do engaging work, and some will probably feel The Godsend is a "near miss." Technical merits are generally very good for those considering a purchase.