Except for a few computerized demons here and there, some scattered Biblical references, and two or three parallels to Jesus, the film was not all that supernatural. And it wasn’t all that thrilling either.
Bless the Child (2000)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:95
Fresh:3
Rotten:92
Average Rating:3/10
Consensus: Bless the Child doesn't scare, but may provoke unintended laughter from audiences. It's basically a B-movie.
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Box Office: $0
Synopsis:
Omens and concepts of good vs. evil have no place in Maggie O’Connor’s (Kim Basinger) well-ordered, practical universe. Her life revolves around her job as a nurse at a busy New York hospital --...
Omens and concepts of good vs. evil have no place in Maggie O’Connor’s (Kim Basinger) well-ordered, practical universe. Her life revolves around her job as a nurse at a busy New York hospital -- that is, until her wayward kid sister, Jenna (Angela Bettis), shows up on her doorstep one rainy Christmas Eve and saddles Maggie with an autistic newborn child named Cody (Holliston Coleman).
Cody quickly touches Maggie’s heart and becomes the daughter she has always longed for. But six years later Jenna suddenly re-enters her life and, with her mysterious new husband, Eric Stark (Rufus Sewell), abducts Cody. Despite the fact that Maggie has no legal rights to Cody, FBI agent John Travis (Jimmy Smits), 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 and the love she inspires in those she touches.
Starring: Kim Basinger, Jimmy Smits, Rufus Sewell, Ian Holm
Starring: Kim Basinger, Jimmy Smits, Rufus Sewell, Ian Holm, Lumi Cavazos, Holliston Coleman, Christina Ricci, Angela Bettis, Dimitra Arliss
Director: Chuck Russell
Director: Chuck Russell
Screenwriter: Tom Rickman
Producer: Mace Neufeld
Composer: Christopher Young
Get This Movie
Reviews for Bless the Child
The film starts off with a mediocre premise, and then quickly and progressively becomes more ludicrous as it proceeds.
Barely squeezes any sense out of its cliché-ridden plot, with wasted talent, cheezy effects, bad dialogue and unintentional laughs to boot.
After a slow start, it becomes enjoyably creepy, only to decline sharply into a morass of ever more inane ridiculousness.
Bless the Child is mostly derivative junk, but its few novel touches are worth noting.
Many special effects are obvious frauds: rubbery rats with unconvincingly red eyes, flying monkeys that make you nostalgic for The Wizard of Oz.
Director Chuck Russell ... plays this like high drama, preventing all the potential camp humor and cheap thrills from bursting forth. And the film drags.
Those bat-winged CGI demons and red-eyed rats of hell ... should have been banished to a video game before they could transform this solemn shocker into a silly spook show.
If you're interested in movies about extremely talented children with special powers, it's better to just rent The Sixth Sense.
As usually happens with films as self-important and derivative as Bless the Child, by the third act this is simply laugh-out-loud funny.
Chocked with every bad satanic cliche imaginable, Bless the Child is like Rosemary's Baby (1968) on steroids.
Basinger appears to be gaily waltzing through a soap opera while the other cast members are screeching their way through a horror film.
Bless the Child may be on the side of the angels but lacks the impact of its cinematic predecessors.
The scariest thing about this hokey bombast is that it got made in the first place.
Latest News for Bless the Child
June 08, 2005:
Chuck Russell Bites Into "Piranha" Remake
Our daily remake news, courtesy of Variety: Director Chuck Russell, along with Chiller Films, is planning to mount a remake of Joe Dante's "Piranha." Working from John... More...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
RT On Current TV
DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
CloseSponsored Links
Around The Network
- Bless the Child at Rotten Tomatoes
- Bless the Child at IGN
Fresh Links
Featured

Techland lists the best Sci-Fi films of this decade.

Moviefone takes a look back at the biggest stinkers of the past 10 years.

The Me and Orson Welles star answers reader questions on TIME.com.

Hollywood.com's C. Robert Cargill offers his thoughts on what the best decade for film was.

In the AV Club's "Scenic Routes," Mike D'Angelo reminisces about the Tim Burton film.
Promos

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!



Top Critic


