First, McKenna Grace must be a forty year-old actress in a child's body; her performance is that good. One of the best scenes was her practicing being bubbly and sincere in the mirror, then revealing her cold, calculating interior.
I think it was a mistake to make the flick about a single father raising his daughter rather than a mother, like the original. The natural mother/daughter frisson helps build the tension more than the basket-of-kisses father/daughter cliché that we're given here. (The kisses/hugs call and response is how the original play ends. Many of the reviewers here don't seem to realize the ridiculous lightning strike death in the original movie was because the Hayes Office wouldn't allow the film to end like the play did on Broadway, with the mother dying and the daughter living, similar to this remake.) As another reviewer mentioned, the title is meaningless with the change in storyline that doesn't address the idea that evil is in the blood. I kept thinking that there was going to be a reveal that the dead mother was a bad woman, perhaps executed for her crimes, but, alas...
Rob Lowe was really too old to play the father of such a young girl, but never mind. He should maybe concentrate on directing. The pacing moved the film right along. Even the scenes that were logistically problematic, like the wasp nest in the car and especially the babysitter in the garage bit, were deftly shot and exciting to watch. The latter also had some good special effects.
I find it amusing that some reviewers were upset by the use of the word **** while tuning into a movie about a little girl who kills everything in sight. And she wasn't even the one who swore. No, not Little Miss Butter-Wouldn't-Melt-in-Her-Mouth.
I think it was a mistake to make the flick about a single father raising his daughter rather than a mother, like the original. The natural mother/daughter frisson helps build the tension more than the basket-of-kisses father/daughter cliché that we're given here. (The kisses/hugs call and response is how the original play ends. Many of the reviewers here don't seem to realize the ridiculous lightning strike death in the original movie was because the Hayes Office wouldn't allow the film to end like the play did on Broadway, with the mother dying and the daughter living, similar to this remake.) As another reviewer mentioned, the title is meaningless with the change in storyline that doesn't address the idea that evil is in the blood. I kept thinking that there was going to be a reveal that the dead mother was a bad woman, perhaps executed for her crimes, but, alas...
Rob Lowe was really too old to play the father of such a young girl, but never mind. He should maybe concentrate on directing. The pacing moved the film right along. Even the scenes that were logistically problematic, like the wasp nest in the car and especially the babysitter in the garage bit, were deftly shot and exciting to watch. The latter also had some good special effects.
I find it amusing that some reviewers were upset by the use of the word **** while tuning into a movie about a little girl who kills everything in sight. And she wasn't even the one who swore. No, not Little Miss Butter-Wouldn't-Melt-in-Her-Mouth.