THE NEW DAUGHTER

US, 2009, 108 minutes. Colour.
Kevin Costner, Ivana Baquero, Samantha Mathis, Gattlin Griffith, Erik Palladino, Noah Taylor, James Gammon.
Directed by Luis Berdejo.

The New Daughter, an atmospheric horror film rather than a gory film, has interesting credentials. It is based on a short story by crime writer, John Connolly. It was directed by Spanish director, Luis Berdejo, winner of a number of awards for his short films, writer of the horror films, Rec and Quarantine. This is his first feature film.

It is surprising to find Kevin Costner in this film. However, he plays a writer whose wife has left him and he has taken his two children to an old house in South Carolina. The younger daughter, played by Ivana Baquero (the star and Goya award winner of Pan’s Labyrinth) and Gattlin Griffith (though very young, a veteran actor with a long list of performances including The Changeling). Samantha Mathis appears as a sympathetic school teacher. James Gammon is the previous owner of the house. Noah Taylor is a professor of entomology, interested in the strange mound that is found on the site of the house, an ancient Indian burial ground.

All these elements come together with the father trying to settle in with his children, trying to write, coping with his wife leaving him. The daughter begins to manifest strange activities including sleepwalking, clutching a straw doll, seemingly taken over by some other presence. The little boy, who has a strong bond with his father, played well in these scenes by Costner as a devoted father, begins to be afraid.

James Gammon appears as the owner of the house, giving explanations of the previous deaths.

The film builds in atmosphere rather than in shock. It comes to a culmination, using the theme of ants, the nest and the queen ant, the burial ground for deities, the deities wanting to consume humans and assert control. The ending, seemingly peaceful, suddenly becomes quite ambitious regarding the fate of the father and the two children.

1. An interesting horror atmospheric film? Family? House and property haunted? The burial mound? The Indian customs? Deities and the supernatural? The analogy with entomology and ants?

2. The locations, South Carolina, the quiet town, the shops? School? The property, the house and its interiors? The mound? The special effects and construction for the mound and its interiors, the confrontations at the end? The musical score?

3. Audiences identifying with the situation? The father and his children? John and his relationship with Sam, the bonds? Louisa and her unwillingness to be there? Settling in, the rooms? The memories of their mother and wanting her to come?

4. The ordinary things, shopping, taking the children to school, meeting Cassandra Parker? At the shop – and the hesitation of the couple behind the counter? The police?

5. Louisa, her age, criticisms? Her reading and writing? Discovering the mound with Sam? Her return? Lying on the mound? Her changed behaviour, sleepwalking, the doll? Her not remembering? Going to school, being taunted by the girls? Her going to the mound and staying there?

6. Sam, school, the class about the ants, the explanation of the ants, the queen, the nest? This being used as a basis for the explanation of the mound?

7. John and his concern? Talking things over with Cassandra? Louisa’s resentment?

8. The visit to Roger Wayne? His explanation of the house, his daughter, the death, the fire in the house?

9. The fire? The officer and his suspicions? The babysitter and her disappearance? Finding the babysitter and the mound? John under suspicion? The attack by the creatures and the death of the policeman?

10. Louisa, in the mound, her father trying to rescue her? Sam and his fears?

11. The visualising of the creatures? Monstrous? The attack on John, his going into the nest? Setting the fire? Confronting the creature?

12. The finale, John and his success, rescuing Louisa? Sam safe? The final appearance of the creature – and the ambiguity of the ending?

13. Audiences responding to atmosphere and fear rather than gory episodes? The success of this film as atmospheric?