User reviews

As this movie opens, it seems to be literally riddled with clichés. A recent divorced father (Kevin Costner) decides to move with his two children into a creepy old house in the country, where they find what appears to be an old Indian burial ground. That really didn't seem to require much thought, did it. I was disappointed; somehow I was expecting something just a little more imaginative; a bit more out of the ordinary. I do have to give credit to the writers , though. After that extremely cliché opening, they manage to introduce a pretty well crafted story that rises above those clichés and that creates some suspense in the viewer.

Costner was the movie's greatest strength. He brought a well known presence to this movie and he played the part of the increasingly confused and concerned father quite well. Happily (from my point of view) the movie avoided going for yet another cliché - although there was the opportunity, there was no romance introduced for Costner. For the most part, the focus of the story remained pretty much on his strained relationship with his daughter and his increasing concern for her well being. The kids in this movie (Ivana Baquero and Gattlin Griffith) weren't amazing, but they also didn't detract from the story the way some child actors can. They were believable enough.

Director Luiso Berdejo (who has very little experience as a director) did a decent job using the setting to good advantage, and he created a realistic atmosphere of suspense, slowly rising to fear. There were a couple of things I found awkward in the movie. The introduction of the university professor and his TA, for example. They served little purpose except to give an explanation of what might have been happening with the burial mound. Perhaps there could have been a better way of unravelling the mystery than the introduction of a couple of otherwise unimportant and unnecessary characters. Also, although I fully understand the use of the analogy, the ant farm really wasn't required. I would have understood the movie even without it, and somehow it cheapened this a bit; it's the sort of plot device you expect to see in a made for TV movie.

This isn't bad. It's not one of the great horror movies of all time, but it isn't bad. (6/10)

A recently divorced father (Kevin Costner) moves his teenage daughter Louisa (Ivana Baquero) and son Sam (Gattlin Griffith) to the rural town of Mercy, South Carolina for a fresh start. In the dark forest beyond their new house, strange noises can be heard, and soon the father comes to believe that there's something wrong with his daughter. Is it connected to the strange mound of earth amongst the trees?

"The New Daughter" is not a bad movie at all, but it's not especially great either and that's what I found so frustrating about it. It comes so very close to being brilliant but somehow fails when it should have succeeded. Perhaps part of the reason it fails is that it needed a stronger leading man at its centre. The entire movie rests upon Kevin Costner's shoulders and he seems to virtually sleepwalk through it. The only time you see a glimmer of emotion is when he pounds his fists gently against a wall in one scene to show his anger. The actors playing the children are fine, even if they don't exhibit a lot of emotive moments and simply go from A to B as required.

The director does a superb job providing a growing sense of dread at the situation, and there are a number of scenes where he employs the 'less is more' approach, leaving it up to the imagination of the audience as to what a dark shape amongst the trees might have been, or what might be making a strange noise behind a closed door. The movie has a slow, moody pace similar to movies such as "Signs" and "The Others" which also helps to enhance the atmosphere. The special effects in the later part of the movie are also very well done.

In conclusion, I would have to say that "The New Daughter" is 'okay'. It's certainly worth a rental if you like slower paced psychological horrors rather than the type of movie where everyone runs around attempting to avoid crazed killers. There's hardly any blood, and it does contain one or two good scares, although the plot is a bit predictable in places. I only wish that it was more than 'okay', because all of the elements were in place to make a far better movie and that's what ultimately frustrates me.

After reading that this movie was being made I thought the worst....how many times have we seen an "A" list star lower themselves to the level of cheap, made for TV quality horror films which just seem to spend all of their budget paying for said star power & not actually being able to spring for some quality script or effects...well; let me introduce you to "The New Daughter".

Firstly I would say that the money spent on getting a top quality actor such as Kevin Costner was well spent...he grounded this movie with his laconic, home town American drawl & really pulled me into the emotional heart of this film. The class of Costner's performance was exhibited no more finely than in the scenes where he was desperately searching for answers to his fears...his acting critics, who have in the past accused him of being "wooden" (& much worse) should see this film & re-evaluate their opinions of this fine actor.

The children were also good & it was wonderful to see the great James Gammon in a quirky & pivotal supporting role.

Usually in this kind of film, the "bad guy" (for want of a better term) tends to end up some lame, crappy alien or a figment of the characters imagination & the ending lets down a strong set up & middle section. In "The New daughter" however, the screenplay is strong & quality right up to the very final few seconds which had me sitting back in my chair saying out loud..."NO WAY!"

I think Costner fans will rejoice at seeing this timeless American performer once again showing us the kind of less is better charisma the likes of which we haven't seen since the halcyon days of Steve McQueen & Paul Newman & the Costner detractors should swallow their pride & give him a chance...he may just surprise you.

7 out of 10.

What a stupid movie, I love Kevin Costner, but wow. Talk about a stupid ending!

A decent little "family in new home" horror film. I like the whole mound idea with creepy creatures living under it. But, this film actually does a good job of achieving the "less is more" approach, focusing on the inner family conflict and the confrontational young daughter coming into her teens, and using that as the main suspense element. I'm always a fan of Costner so it was good seeing him in a horror, plus the kids did well with their parts too.

The New Daughter is an odd one, a creepy Kevin Costner vehicle that almost seems like an M. Night Shyamalan idea that didn't quite take flight from the drawing board. Nevertheless it's a good enough time at the movies, and there's genuinely skin crawling moments too. Costner, in solemn mode, plays a father who relocates to South Carolina with his kids. As if an obligatory adjustment period isn't bad enough, soon his teenage daughter (Pan's Labyrinth's Ivana Baquero, skillful but an odd choice to play all American white boy Kevin's daughter) starts acting strange, and I mean Stranger than your usual garden variety brand of pubescent restlessness. There's something out there in those rural woods, something that's drawing the girl's attention and slowly start possessing her. Father Costner is creeped out and desperate, seeking help from anyone he can, including a professor of far flung urban legend mythology (Noah Taylor), the creepy previous owner of his new home (screen legend James Gammon in his last living film role) and his kid's foxy local schoolteacher (Samantha Mathis). It's a spooky enough little flick, albeit cobbled together from several other better movies. There's creature effects later on that score some points, and atmospheric cinematography, but ultimately it's average, middle ground material.

Up to a certain point in The New Daughter, I was reminded of Dragonfly. Both are low budget Costner films about a man dealing with a family loss which has a haunting outcome. It has been a while since I saw Dragonfly. Nobody thought it was any good, but it is way better than this film. 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. After a while the Dragonfly connection starts to fade away, and the movie turns into something else, something worse unfortunately. The New Daughter is torpid, and is bogged down by too much content, and not enough suspense or intelligent dialogue.

If I am gonna give the film any credit, it would be for photography. This is a gorgeously shot film, where the nights are cold, eerie and evocative, and the safety of home is warm, glowing and golden. The best shot in the film is the last one, which barely makes up for the utter stupidity of the ending. There is much left to explain, but in the end, I don't really care.

The New Daughter, is a spooky story, which is occasionally interesting but is less so than it is sloppily executed, badly acted, and not worth your money.

I will spare you readers with the plot summary since it is already available in many other places within this site. I will assume that you, the reader, just want to figure out if "The New Daughter" is worth watching, so here goes my experience and opinion...

It is rare these days in the midst of movies like "Saw" and "The Unborn" to find a movie that finds something new among the old and over used. I can't tell you how long it's been since I watched a movie and then went to bed with "one eye open" afterwards. Movies these days just don't seem to scare me anymore. I've seen it all before. I watched this movie with my teenage son since we always enjoy a good psychological thriller. I wouldn't say I was a Kevin Costner fan - although I definitely wouldn't warn anyone against one of his older epics - and thought it might be almost comical to see him in a thriller. I was thinking about Mr. Brooks (the other K.C. thriller) and how that movie very much failed to impress me. But I have been occasionally surprised by actors that hadn't before made an impact on me, so I made the popcorn and prepared to be somewhat bored. The problem is (not exactly a problem... more of a surprise) that I WASN'T bored! In fact, I was on the edge of my seat, and by the end of the movie I was clinging to my son, my cat, the afghan that two hours before was neatly lain across the back of the sofa... I was completely creeped out!

There is an ominous background throughout the entire movie that really works. I kept thinking "This is REALLY eerie". The plot, the musical score, the cinematographer's grayish hue to everything, the director's decision to make everything very subdued, the lack of gore. All of it comes together to make for a pretty good watch. It all just kind of worked. Think "The Grudge" meets "The Ring" meets "Signs" meets "The Blair Witch". The New Daughter is not a knock off of these movies, it's like this movie takes the best parts of the aforementioned films and turns them into a brand new type of thriller.

This is not the best thriller/horror I ever saw, but it is definitely well worth watching. It was chilling without being disturbing. I gave it an 8/10 for every part that was unique, and for Kevin Costner's surprisingly honest portrayal of a father just trying to protect his kids. Additional kudos to Ivana Baquero as troubled Louisa James and Gattlin Griffith as the innocent Sam James.

Bottom line... Find something to cling to and enjoy The New Daughter.

In todays, "no imagination, every bit of story must be spelled out on screen in action and with explosions" it is often to appreciate movies that make you think, draw conclusions, actually use you imagination and remember the source.

This movie is true to the short story it is based on with a good cinematic backdrop where the actors act, and everything isn't carried out on a blue/green screen. Costner's portrayal was very true to the actual character which, isn't that the point of having characters and using actors that can act.

In a genre that is quickly becoming based only on graphic, grotesque, shocking blood and gore sequences and predictable horror and grisly effects, this thriller is actually attractive for all the right reasons and should be enjoyed highly by those that appreciate true horror/thriller films as opposed to the blood soaked hacker/slasher movies that are being pumped out monthly.

After his wife leaves him for another man, struggling author John James (Kevin Costner) relocates to a new house in rural South Carolina with his young son Sam (Gattlin Griffith) and teenage daughter Louisa "Lou" (Ivana Baquero) the latter of whom harbors feelings of resentment towards John for his inability to keep their family together. As the three adjust to their new home which has a mysterious burial mound located on the property, Louisa soon begins to exhibit personality changes that although initially seeming like adolescent angst may in fact be of a far more sinister and supernatural nature.

The New Daughter is a 2009 horror film adapted from John Connolly's 2004 short story of the same name first published in the collection Nocturnes. The rights to Connolly's story were purchased by Gold Circle Films who previously scored two modestly budgeted horror hits with White Noise and The Haunting in Connecticut. Initially intended to be a release by New Line, the film ultimately ended up being released by Anchor Bay where it was given a token limited theatrical run before being released to video a few months later. Critical reception tended to run negative with some praise going to the cast and underlying themes while lamenting the plethora of cliches used in the film. In many ways The New Daughter is an improvement on Gold Circles prior horror films like White Noise and Haunting in Connecticut, but it's also weighed down by many of the mid 2000s conveyor belt horror tropes that keep it firmly in the realm of mediocre rental shelf fodder.

Despite the many issues surrounding The New Daughter, the cast is honestly really solid with Costner well positioned to play an in over his head father whose relationship suffers a schism with his daughter Louisa who is on the cusp of pubescence. This is where there is a rich emotional core at play in the material because many parents often do find themselves in a state of upheaval when they're children stop being "children" and their personalities almost change seemingly overnight with a lot of anger and resentment often coloring that relationship. Ivana Baquero does very well as Lou and despite her often butting heads with John even in the opening the movie does give her some moments particularly with her younger brother Sam where she confides in him that it's not John's fault their mother left them. Honestly the stuff with the James family is very rich and very interesting and I often wanted to focus more on it than the actual horror material.

Luiso Berdejo who previously worked as a screenwriter, notably on the hit Spanish horror film REC, makes his directorial debut with the new daughter and he shows himself as having a strong eye for mood and atmosphere with some good nighttime photography of the house as well as nice framing of shots in the daylight scenes that still create an uncomfortable mood. The actual incorporation of the horror elements however is where we see cracks begin to develop because the movie rather than being more psychological concocts this very elaborate mythology involving burial mounds along with foreshadowing of ants and a lot of this stuff feels like it does a disservice to the core upon which the movie had a pretty promising foundation. As the movie goes on it veers more towards becoming a monster movie with some pretty goofy looking monsters and when the ending comes around it leaves on a sour note that just sees the whole thing fall apart.

The New Daughter has some really good ideas and performances on display, but there's also a lot of missteps especially when it comes to the handling of broken family dynamics with more conventional horror tropes. I honestly liked it better than prior PG-13 Gold Circle horror films like White Noise or Haunting in Connecticut, but it still carries many of the same flaws as those movies only with some good underlying ideas trying to get out.

The just divorced writer John James (Kevin Costner) moves to an isolated old house in the woods in Mercy, South Caroline, with his teenager daughter Louisa (Ivana Baquero) and his son Sam (Gattlin Griffith). Louisa misses her mother Isabel and finds an Indian burial mound in the real estate, where she likes to go. Sooner Louisa changes her behavior but her teacher Cassandra Parker (Samantha Mathis) believes that the cause is puberty associated to the new lifestyle in a new place and without the mother. When John learns that a tragedy has happened in the house in the past, he hires the babysitter Mrs. Amworth (Sandra Ellis Lafferty) that was recommended by Cassandra and travels to Charleston to seek out the previous owner Roger Wayne (James Gammon) that tells details of the tragedy. When he returns, Mrs. Amworth is missing and sooner John finds what is happening with his daughter.

"The New Daughter" is a conventional haunted house and possession low- budget film with a dreadful ending. "The New Daughter" seems to be made for TV, with characters and situations not well developed and excessive use of clichés and unreasonable attitudes. Louisa is an unlikable character and it is impossible to feel any empathy for her. I do not recall the last good movie of Kevin Costner and his career is really downhill. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "Possuída" ("Possessed")

Not really sure why this falls in the horror category, thriller yes, but wasn't really anything scary as much as unsettling and I think that is were this movie hit the nail on the head.

As someone else mentioned this movie does give off the hint of signs, but with a twist, something that hits a little closer to home, and doesn't seem as far fetched as aliens.

As someone else mentioned that this movie is absolutely terrible, and i can't help but disagree, the movie kept me wondering the entire length and even once it was over. My eyes stayed glued, i never felt like i was bored or wondering when it would get to the "good stuff" It did seems to start off slow, and then ran really fast in the last 20 minutes, but i don't feel that was such a bad thing, as with thrillers its all in the build up anyways.

I don't ever consider thrillers to be a DVD purchase, as once you've seen it it has no replay value, but its definitely worth a hit on the netflix que.

Haven't seen a Kevin Costner movie in ages, I was looking forward to this solid horror. After his wife leaves him and his two kids, John James (Costner) and his children move to a isolated farm. But then, his daughter starts acting weird and it has something to do with a large mound near his home. Kevin Costner and the rest of the cast act well, but the star of the show is director Luis Berdejo for making a suspenseful, tense, well crafted thriller. Plenty of effective scares and a truly terrifying ending, The New Daughter is a solid horror film.

7/10.

Rated PG-13 for strong violence.

This is frightening but without the use of excess jumps, violence and gore. Watch it if you wish to see something effective. Highly recommended.

This eerie film deals with a divorced, single father called John James : Kevin Costner, along with his children : a lonely adolescent : Ivana Baquero, who suffers mobbing at school , and a frightened little boy : Griffith. All of them move to an isolated rural South Carolina mansion and there occurs some really astonishing acts . This property is by an Indian burial mound, then several bizarre happenings happen. As horrifying noises around home and in the forest, the family cat is missing and the teen girl appears clutching a rare straw doll and coming home full of dirtness .John finds out about an ancient tragedy occurred in the past and he seeks and meets the former owner : James Gammon.

Creepy and frightening film with fantastic events, thrills, chills, suspense and nail-biting scenes. This is an acceptable horror movie in which tension, intrigue and terror goes in crescendo. Cast is pretty well. As starring Kevin Costner is nice as disturbing father who becomes involved into strange events, Ivana Baquero is enjoyable as the middle-school aged teenager who suffers a rare fascination, coming home covered with mud and sleepwalking . Support cast is frankly good such as Samantha Mathis as the worried professor Cassandra, Noah Taylor as Professor White, Eric Palladino as a police officer investigating the eerie events, Lafferty as the babysitter. And special mention for James Gammon as an old man who knows about the extraordinary events and he has some tracks about the ghastly case.

It packs a thrilling and suspenseful musical score by Javier Navarrete. As well as an adequate but dark cinematography by Checco Varise. The motion picture was professionally directed by Luiso Berdejo, though it has some flaws and gaps. Berdejo is a good craftsman, being especially known for his scripts, as he has written : El guardian invisible, Rec Genesis, Quarantine, Quarantine terminal, Violet, Insensibles, Tres 60. He has directed a few films as Kalebegiak (segment), Violet, The new daughter and some shorts. Rating : 6/10 .Decent terror and supernatural film. The picture will appeal to Kevin Costner fans.

Another year, another film about a single father and a his offspring moving to a new home and becoming involved in some creepy antics typically involving the daughter. The last one I saw like this was Robert De Niro's HIDE AND SEEK but they seem to make them all the time, and THE NEW DAUGHTER is no different from all the rest. I expected more from director Luiso Berdejo, the man who wrote REC.

The story is of the usual content: Kevin Costner and his annoying kids move to a new house with a haunted reputation. Some interest arises from an ancient burial mound in his back garden, but the plot is so ambiguous that the viewer never really gets to enjoy that side of it. Instead this mediocre film just sort of burbles along aimlessly. The cast are okay but going through the motions here. Costner has his usual likable everyman charm but his character is a dour bore and the kids earn no sympathy from the viewer.

Samantha Mathis and Noah Taylor play in support as a teacher and professor respectively, but are wasted in minor parts, particularly the latter. The film works hard to remain realistic throughout with mere hints of shadows and the like but blows it with the silly, typically over the top climax. The abrupt ending is a kick in the teeth. Overall this is another disappointment from Hollywood.