Little Sadie was raised by her grandparents after her father Kyle died in auto crash and her mom Theresa became an alcoholic. Now, ten years later, Theresa has recovered and has a nice fiancé, Aaron. Both Theresa and Aaron welcome Sadie into her home. But they have no sense of the extent to which they are receiving damaged goods.
The filmmakers never made it entirely clear what happened to little Sadie while she was raised by her grandparents. There is only a hint that they abused and tormented the child. But the result is a vindictiveness that is a combination of paranoia and lashing out at others with a lethal dosage of rage and violence. Little Sadie will be complicit in deaths of the two grandparents...and her poor elementary school teacher.
The character of Theresa was especially well-written and performed by the actress. The mother was so caring that she had a blind spot for the danger signs about the child. The child performer was also outstanding in a multi-dimensional character development.
Still, this film was disappointing in the gloom hanging over the family from start to finish. Grandma Elena was actually making a reasonable request for compensation after raising the child for ten years, having the kid taken away from her. It never occurred to the usually sensitive Theresa to think of her mother-in-law in this way. But the major flaw of this movie was the lack of clear motivation for the child's pathology.
The saddest part of the film was the relationship of Sadie and her homeroom teacher, Miss Goldin. This was a caring instructor who was starting to recognize the child's aberrant behavior and might have been able to get her the help she so desperately needed. Instead, Miss Goldin is the victim of a diabolical plan of murder hatched by the ten-year-old.
The mantra of little Sadie is a warning she gives to her enemies: "Follow temptations and you deserve what you get." If that adage has any truth to it, sadistic Sadie gets exactly what she deserves: a long life ahead of her in a nut house.
The filmmakers never made it entirely clear what happened to little Sadie while she was raised by her grandparents. There is only a hint that they abused and tormented the child. But the result is a vindictiveness that is a combination of paranoia and lashing out at others with a lethal dosage of rage and violence. Little Sadie will be complicit in deaths of the two grandparents...and her poor elementary school teacher.
The character of Theresa was especially well-written and performed by the actress. The mother was so caring that she had a blind spot for the danger signs about the child. The child performer was also outstanding in a multi-dimensional character development.
Still, this film was disappointing in the gloom hanging over the family from start to finish. Grandma Elena was actually making a reasonable request for compensation after raising the child for ten years, having the kid taken away from her. It never occurred to the usually sensitive Theresa to think of her mother-in-law in this way. But the major flaw of this movie was the lack of clear motivation for the child's pathology.
The saddest part of the film was the relationship of Sadie and her homeroom teacher, Miss Goldin. This was a caring instructor who was starting to recognize the child's aberrant behavior and might have been able to get her the help she so desperately needed. Instead, Miss Goldin is the victim of a diabolical plan of murder hatched by the ten-year-old.
The mantra of little Sadie is a warning she gives to her enemies: "Follow temptations and you deserve what you get." If that adage has any truth to it, sadistic Sadie gets exactly what she deserves: a long life ahead of her in a nut house.