Bless the Child (2000)

Omens and concepts of good vs. evil have no place in Maggie O'Connor's well-ordered, practical universe. Her life revolves around her job as a nurse at a busy New York hospital, until one ... See full summary »

Director:

Chuck Russell

Writers:

Cathy Cash Spellman (novel), Thomas Rickman (screenplay),

Stars:

Kim Basinger, Jimmy Smits, Holliston Coleman

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kim Basinger	...	Maggie O'Connor
Jimmy Smits	...	Agent John Travis
Holliston Coleman	...	Cody O'Connor
Rufus Sewell	...	Eric Stark
Angela Bettis	...	Jenna O'Connor
Christina Ricci	...	Cheri Post
Michael Gaston	...	Det. Frank Bugatti
Lumi Cavazos	...	Sister Rosa
Dimitra Arliss	...	Dahnya (as Dimitra Arlys)
Eugene Lipinski	...	Stuart
Anne Betancourt	...	Maria
Ian Holm	...	Reverend Grissom
Helen Stenborg	...	Sister Joseph
Matthew Lemche	...	New Dawn Kid at Van
Dan Warry-Smith	...	New Dawn Kid

Storyline

Omens and concepts of good vs. evil have no place in Maggie O'Connor's well-ordered, practical universe. Her life revolves around her job as a nurse at a busy New York hospital, until one rainy night, her sister Jenna abandons her newborn, autistic daughter at her home. Maggie takes the baby in, and she becomes the daughter she never had. Six years later Jenna suddenly re-appears with a mysterious new husband, Eric, and abducts Cody. Despite the fact that Maggie has no legal rights to Cody, FBI agent John Travis, an expert in ritual homicide and occult-related crime, takes up her cause when he realizes that Cody shares the same birth date as several other recently missing children. The little girl, it soon becomes clear, is more than simply "special." She manifests extraordinary powers that the forces of evil have waited centuries to control, and her abduction sparks a clash between the soldiers of good and evil that can only be resolved, in the end, by the strength of one small child...

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Plot Keywords:

fbi | nurse | omen | decapitation | good versus evil | 

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Taglines:

Mankind's last hope just turned six.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, drug content and brief language

Details

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 August 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Filha da Luz

Filming Locations:

Burlington, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£505,468 (UK) (5 January 2001)

Gross:

ESP 447,559,152 (Spain) (29 June 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

BTC Productions KG, Icon Entertainment International, Munich Film Partners & Company (MFP) BTC Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The subway station where the attack on Meg takes place is a "ghost" station on the Toronto subway that is used frequently as a stand in for New York subways. The city's film office wanted to leave it set up as a NYC station but the Toronto fire department nixed that idea. The station is below the Bay station on the Bloor line, on the track connecting the Bloor and Yonge lines. At one time trains went from one line to the other - thus the station - but the practice was discontinued because of switching problems. (There is also a "ghost" station beneath the Queen Street station. It was roughed in 1954 for a planned Queen Street subway which never was built.)

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Goofs

During scene when Maggie is at the front desk of a New York police station, a form with the word "Ontario" and its provincial emblem at the top appear in a brief close-up of the desk.

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Quotes

Eric Stark: Jump, Cody, jump. If you believe in God, jump. And if not, you come to me. What do you believe in, Cody? My hand - it's here, you can see it. Satan rules it and it will protect you always... Or his hand? Is it there? Or isn't it? Will he catch you or not? If you believe, Cody, jump. JUMP!
Cody: After you.

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Connections

References Ghost (1990)

User Reviews

Someone should have blessed this movie.

Rated: R Runtime: 107mins Release Date: 2000

For Maggie O'Connor a surprise visit from her sister meant much more than catching up on old times. Maggie's sister, being to strung out and confused to do anything more than act crazed, leaves Maggie with something she herself could not conceive, a beautiful baby girl. What Maggie and the rest of the world don't yet know but will find out, is that this baby girl is something even more special than they could ever possibly begin to imagine.

Bless the Child stars the beautiful Kim Bassinger as Maggie O'Connor, a single New York native whose world is completely changed when her long lost younger sister comes to pay her a surprise visit. Maggie's sister has also brought along her daughter Cody, who is seemingly just a beautiful baby girl. But confused and addicted to heroin, Maggie's sister leaves Cody in Maggie's protection. So for the next seven years Maggie raises Cody as her own daughter but finds out that this little girl isn't like most little girls. For instance she has the ability to make things move with her mind and has an unexplainable healing touch. But Maggie isn't the only person who knows that Cody is special, as a matter of fact there has been an underground occult group that have been looking for someone like Cody for the past seven years, believing her to be the savior or destruction of mankind. Eventually they find Cody, and coincidentally at the same time Cody's mother shows up again, clean and sober and married to a famous author and child enthusiast, Eric Stark (an always awesome Rufus Sewell), who isn't quite what he seems. Cody's mother and Stark want Cody back and they will stop at nothing, including kidnapping, to do so. But along to help Maggie get Cody back is special Agent Travis (Jimmy Smits), an expert in the occult field who has been tracking the people that have been looking for Cody for the past seven years. Together the two will travel through hell on earth to get this extraordinary child back.

I'll start off by saying at least this film was much better and had many more thrills than the almost simultaneously released Lost Souls. There are some solid performances by the leads, especially Bassinger, whose acting, much like her beauty, just seems to keep improving with age. Sewell was also notable in his genuinely creepy role as Stark, and has been near the top of my actors list since I first saw him in the astonishing Dark City. I have to give them and Smits kudos because even when the movie starts to drag at least they can be counted on to keep the film worth watching.

Director Chuck Russell makes a good attempt to throw in horror and chills at the right moments and even throws in some great effects such as the Devil's manifestation in to a throne and even a rolling head for fans of a little gore. Also worth mentioning are some genuinely touching scenes added in especially one in which Cody is in the hospital and gives a dying woman a hug and some very kind words. Russell is a good director who has a bright future ahead but he has to learn how to fill in the middle with as much substance as the beginning and end, because I must admit the movie does start to get a little repetitive. Screenplay writers Tom Rickman and Clifford and Ellen Green do a solid job of adapting Cathy Cash Spellman's interesting novel to the big screen. However the storyline is very evident as a cross between Rosemary's Baby and The Omen, which can plainly be seen as a slight lack of originality.

Bless the child is a well crafted horror film with some strong aspects and a great feel, but like so many movies adapted from books there is a little too much talk and not quite enough horror. I do, however, recommend this film because the good qualities do outweigh the bad, and it is one of the better horrors in recent release. Leaving it up to a choice though, you can either go out and watch Winona Ryder bore up Lost Souls, or you can sit back and enjoy beautiful Kim Bassinger Bless the Child.

Overall Rating: 6 out of 10