Creepy kids can be very scary and that is something that The Prodigy has.

Good old Georgie from the remake of Stephen King’s It, Jackson Robert Scott gets the lead character here, as Miles, an extremely intelligent young boy who seemingly develops a darker side.

I was impressed with Jackson Robert Scott as he did a fine job as the bad seed Miles. Even more distracting was his mother, played by Taylor Schilling from Orange is the New Black.  I could not place her the entire movie and it bugged me the whole film.  I couldn’t believe when I finally saw the actress’s name in the end credits that I wasn’t able to immediately recognize Piper from OITNB.  It did distract me for much of the time she was on screen.  That was my problem, not hers.

The Prodigy was a mixed bag most of the time as there are good scenes and bad scenes. There are some times when you know exactly where the film is going and other times when you think you know, only for it to swerve off course.

Honestly, I found the first part of the movie pretty good.  I was engaged in the story and I was interested in what was going to happen.  Scott was doing his best creepy facial expressions and the jump scares were mostly well done.  I wanted to know more, and not just where I knew that actress from.

Unfortunately, the third act took the film off its rails completely in a sadly predictable and downright dumb conclusion that took away any chance The Prodigy had of being more than a forgettable and disposable horror movie.

2.7 stars