Elroy Gibson

This movie was a precursor to the demonic possession movies of today, but no less intense or evocative. Evil can manifest itself into many forms and has chosen a beautiful young girl in this story. The child is brilliant, competitive, quite charming, selfish, manipulative and incapable of true empathy. The juxtaposition between the child’s tortured mother (hoping against clear evidence to the contrary) who comes to realize that her daughter is capable of taking a life on an insignificant whim, and the young daughter who deviously bewitches those around her into believing that she is perfect and incapable of acting in any way disobedient or angry/aggressive is a seminal anchor to the movie. You’ll be left wondering what horrors children are really capable of, even your own.