The New Daughter [Blu-ray] starring Kevin Costner

The New Daughter [Blu-ray] starring Kevin Costner

Muddy footprints and straw dolls betray the presence of an ancient evil in The New Daughter. Author John James (Kevin Costner) has brought his innocent young son Sam (Gattlin Griffith Changeling) and sullen teenage daughter Louisa (Ivana Baquero, Pan's Labyrinth) to a new home to start their lives over after James's wife abandoned them. The house, of course, is huge and in the middle of an overgrown forest--and the discovery of a strange mound nearby doesn't make things any less spooky. Louisa's adolescent hormones practically beg for supernatural possession, and before long she's covered in mud, breaking out in a prickly rash, and pushing girls down the stairway at school. There's nothing unexpected in The New Daughter, but that doesn't mean it's ineffective; Spanish director Luis Berdejo makes good use of ambient sound, well-timed jolts, and Baquero's porcelain-doll features. Costner seems a little out of his element, but when he's faced with some horrible choices, he captures the torment of a father who fears he can't save his children. As is often the case, the more we see, the less scary it is, so it's good that Berdejo holds back on the creepy-crawlies for as long as he can.