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MOVIES / ON DVD / JOSHUA
Joshua

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Joshua (2007)

62%
76%
62%
N/A
N/A
N/A
62 %
Reviews Counted: 92 Fresh: 57  Rotten:35 Average Rating: 6.3/10
 
Consensus: Though Joshua is ultimately too formulaic, its intelligence and suspenseful buildup heighten the overall creep factor.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Rated: R

Runtime: 1 hr 46 mins

Theatrical Release: 2007

Box Office: $442,201

Synopsis: Brad (Sam Rockwell) and Abby Cairn (Vera Farmiga) seem to have it all. A successful Manhattan couple living in a plush uptown apartment, they have just welcomed their second child into the family--a lovely little girl named Lily. Everything should be golden for the happy family, but their... Brad (Sam Rockwell) and Abby Cairn (Vera Farmiga) seem to have it all. A successful Manhattan couple living in a plush uptown apartment, they have just welcomed their second child into the family--a lovely little girl named Lily. Everything should be golden for the happy family, but their little boy--the nine-year-old Joshua (Jacob Kogan)--is less than pleased with the latest addition to the family. An intelligent but odd little boy, Joshua's lack of humor and preoccupation with death belie his tender age, and as the parents coo over Lily, it becomes clear that they are not quite sure what to make of their stone-faced son. When Lily suddenly turns from a quiet baby into one who mysteriously begins wailing day and night, the Cairns' ordered life quickly disintegrates. The lack of sleep and stress takes a heavy toll on the mentally fragile Abby, and Brad begins racing around the city trying to care for his newborn daughter, ailing wife, and emotionally disturbed son. The family stress mounts, and when small animals and the family dog turn up dead, it doesn't take long before fingers begin pointing at the brooding and bizarre Joshua. Vera Farmiga delivers a realistic and disturbing performance as someone tottering at the edge of emotional collapse, and Sam Rockwell is a true pleasure to watch in his turn as a father desperately trying to hold his life together. Using a slow, teasing pace and claustrophobic camera angles, the film strives for a Hitchockian level of suspense while also delivering many topnotch performances. [More]

Genre: Horror/Suspense

Starring: Jacob Kogan, Sam Rockwell, Vera Farmiga, Celia Weston, Dallas Roberts

Director: George Ratliff
Screenwriter: George Ratliff, David Gilbert
Producer: Johnathan Dorfman
Composer: Nico Muhly

DVD Info

Release:

Jan 8, 2008

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Keep Case
  • Widescreen

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital Surround - Spanish
  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
  • DTS 5.1 - English
  • Subtitles - English, Spanish - Optional

Additional Release Material:

  • Audio Commentaries George Ratliff - Screenwriter/Director; David Gilbert - Screenwriter
  • Alternate Scenes - 1. Deleted Scenes (6)
  • 2. Extended Scenes
  • Behind the Scenes - Jacob Kogan's Audition Tapes
  • Interviews - 1. Sam Rockwell - Star
  • 2. Vera Farmiga - Star
  • 3. Jacob Kogan - Star
  • 4. George Ratliff - Director
  • 5. Johnathan Dorfman - Producer
  • 6. George Paaswell - Co-Producer
  • 7. Roshelle Berliner - Production Designer
  • Music Videos - Dave Matthews - "Fly"
  • Trailers - Theatrical Trailer

Text/Photo Galleries:

  • Galleries - Theatrical Internet Advertising Campaign

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
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Ratings Image
7/10

The film is the ultimate birth control. If you plan on one day having kids, don't see this film. If you already have children, you will never look at them the same way again.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/28/08
Brandon Fibbs
BrandonFibbs.com
Ratings Image
43/100

Ratliff never acknowledges that his audience has likely seen this setup dozens of times before, making the film feel laborious and unsurprising.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/09/08
Jeremy Heilman
MovieMartyr.com
Ratings Image
N/A

...a bewildering extension rather than a retread of this played-out subgenre.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/08/08
Mark Bourne
Film.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

As horror flicks go this is both smart and suspenseful.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/03/08
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

The stress that mounts throughout this strangely tame and quietly spooky horror thriller has a masterfully palpable asphyxiating mood to it that the director exploits for maximum audience discomfort and unrelieved dread.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/22/07
Prairie Miller
NewsBlaze
Ratings Image
3.5/5

The movie's eerie vibe is genuinely disturbing and difficult to shake off. That's a good thing in this genre.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/26/07
Geoff Berkshire
Metromix.com
Ratings Image
3/5

The creepy child genre hasn't had a movie this much fun in a long time.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/06/07
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image
2/4

Bad seed? The whole dang garden is rotten in 'Joshua,' a psychological horror film that demonstrates that the poison apple doesn't fall far from the toxic family tree.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/31/07
John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
Ratings Image
1.5/4

Scenes that are meant to be scary end up generating laughs.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/30/07
Steve Ramos
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Ratings Image
N/A

'Joshua': More than a 'horror film' - a staunchly unforgiving, thoroughly uncomproming look at how a child systematically ruins the lives of his parents

Full Review | comment Comment
08/22/07
Joe Baltake
Passionate Moviegoer
Ratings Image
2.5/4

When the film falters, it's when it pulls its punches and gives us conventional horror that we can hold off at a safe distance, rather than uncomfortable insights that we can unsettlingly recognize from our own household experience.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/10/07
Rob Thomas
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Ratings Image
3/4

The nerve-shattering ending will have you hugging your children when you get home - but only if there are witnesses present.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/03/07
Sean Means
Film.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
2.4/5

run-of-the-mill psychological thriller.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/29/07
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette
Ratings Image
2.5/5

if you strip away all the meddling that Joshua does, it's clear to see the family is dysfunctionally psychopathic from the start

Full Review | comment Comment
07/23/07
Kevin Carr
7M Pictures
Ratings Image
3/4

Father and mother no longer know best.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/21/07
Susan Tavernetti
Palo Alto Weekly
Ratings Image
3/4

...certainly succeeds in bringing a fair amount of depth to an admittedly familiar storyline.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/20/07
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
Ratings Image
3.5/4

It's subtle and it's terrific.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/19/07
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Ratings Image
2.5/4

The contrived script expects us to believe that Joshua's fainting spells, his nocturnal home videos of his sleeping family and his acts of violence on crowded New York City streets fail to raise suspicion until it is too late.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/19/07
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
3/5

Watch this movie on a night when you don't think you need birth control.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/18/07
Dan Lybarger
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image
B

There's a definite "Bad Seed" vibe going on in this sophisticated psychological thriller that unfolds with such precision you'll want to see it a second time just to catch its many degrees of nuanced escalation.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/17/07
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
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