| | | When A Miracle Becomes A Nightmare, Evil Is Born.
In the tradition of Rosemary's Baby and The Others, this taut and gripping thriller tells the story of devoted parents who are willing to do anything to resurrect their beloved son who was tragically killed in a freak accident. Godsend stars Academy Award winner Robert De Niro, Academy-Award nominee Greg Kinnear (As Good As It Gets, We Were Soldiers, Auto Focus), and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos (X-Men, Simone, Femme Fatale). The film is directed by Nick Hamm, best known for his success with the highly stylized British film The Hole.Following the death of their eight year old son on his birthday, Jessie (Romijn-Stamos) and Paul (Kinnear) are befriended by a doctor on the forefront of genetic research (DeNiro) at the height of their mourning. He leads the couple in a desperate attempt to reverse the rules of nature and clone their son. The experiment is successful and under Richard's watchful eye, Adam grows into a healthy and happy young boy, until his 8th birthday. As time goes by, the Duncan's gradually start to see small, subtle differences between the new Adam and the Adam they lost. At the time of the new Adam's eighth birthday, the changes in character are more pronounced. Adam grows distant and fearful as a palpable sense of menace settles within the young boy. This Adam begins to suffer from night terrors and frightening flashbacks as a sinister personality begins to emerge. Paul and Jessie cannot escape the fact that this Adam is different. Terror settles on the couple as they try to come to terms with just what they have done, or what has been done to them.  What is UMDTM?
UMD, Universal Media Disc, is a brand-new and groundbreaking optical storage medium, designed for the high speed and efficient delivery of digital entertainment content that can store up to 1.8 GB of digital data on a 60mm disc -- or an entire feature film on a single UMD video. All UMD DVDs are produced in Widescreen and encoded using advanced AVC compression. UMD for PSP will play on the new PlayStation Portable handheld entertainment system.
Specifications
Diameter: 60 mmMaximum Capacity: 1.8GB (Single-sided, dual layer)Laser wavelength: 660nm (Red laser)
Editor's Note
The trials of parenthood are at the forefront of this murky horror effort that recalls 1970s child-possession hits like AUDREY ROSE ('77) and The EXORCIST ('73). Inner-city school teacher Paul (Greg Kinnear) and his wife Jessica (Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) are distraught after losing their eight-year-old son David (Cameron Bright) in an accident. At the funeral, Jessica's old science professor Dr. Wells (Robert Deniro) offers them a chance to rebuild their lives: a mansion in the country near his DNA clinic, a private school teaching job for Paul, and an exact clone of their dead son. Sworn to secrecy and facing all sorts of moral issues, the grief-stricken couple accepts Wells' offer. All goes well until the new David passes the age he previously died, then comes ghostly visions of burning children, and premonitions of murder. A creepily unobtrusive score and the film's drab look help maintain a welcome low-key, character-driven mood here, with the result that GODSEND works both as a standard horror film and a darkly psychological meditation on the uncertainty, misgivings, and sheer terror involved with child rearing. Deniro is great, as usual, and the gorgeous Romijn-Stamos proves herself adept in an unglamorous, tensely dramatic change-of-pace role as the split-apart mother.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Digital Stereo | | DVD Quality Picture | | Full Length Movie | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Lions Gate |
| Release Date: 1/3/2006 |
| Running Time: 102 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2004 | | Catalog ID: 18381 | | UPC: 00031398183815 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | James Berardinelli's ReelViews 3 of 10
Godsend is godawful. That's not a statement I expected to be making 30 minutes into this 102-minute motion picture. The movie gets off to a strong start, effectively establishing the characters and the setup. But when the wheels start to come loose, they fly off all at once, sending what's left of the film spinning out of control. The storyline becomes increasingly less plausible and coherent the longer it's permitted to eat up screen time, and, because the filmmakers are unwilling to do something controversial, there's no ending to speak of. - James Berardinelli
Rolling Stone 2 of 10
Here's a horror flick about cloning. Robert De Niro, in mad-professor mode, wants to clone the dead son of Greg Kinnear and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos. Director Nick Hamm, of the Royal Shakespeare Company, if you please, is transparently trying to clone something else: M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense and all its box-office booty. Fat chance. Every scare is telegraphed. Every surprise is recycled from a better thriller. Even the devil would send this one back. - Peter Travers
Chicago Sun-Times 5 of 10
Godsend tells the story of parents whose only son is killed in an accident, and who are offered the opportunity to clone him. If all goes well, the grieving mother will bear a child genetically identical to the dead boy. I would find that unspeakably sad, but the movie isn't interested in really considering the implications; it's a thriller, a bad thriller, completely lacking in psychological or emotional truth. - Roger Ebert
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