Horror in the Mound

Some movies can take you by surprise. The film “New Daughter” is one of those surprises.

At a first glance, when you’re checking out the rental store, you might have come across this film. Maybe you also picked it up for a closer look. It’s got Kevin Costner on the cover wielding a shotgun in an almighty blaze. You’re thinking it’s probably a thriller, or some overly long drama.

I did.

Costner was known to make three hour films that seemed to take forever getting through. I stopped checking his movies out after “Water World.” Remember that priceless film?

But "New Daughter" is a victim of very poor marketing. Most, if any, have not heard of it. But the most surprising thing about this film is that it’s a straight up horror flick. The last person you would expect to see in a horror film would be Costner himself.

The film was given a limited release in December of 2009 without any huge audiences going for it. In fact, there is nothing on the poster or the description that gave any hinting that it is indeed a horror film. And a very good one. The story itself was based on original work by John Connelly who was known for writing mystery, horror and science fiction.

It’s almost as if the marketing folks didn’t want to touch the horror genre or hint at it in fear of being stigmatized by it. Instead, “The New Daughter” may have been mistaken for an entirely different product.

It stars a very precocious child actress being the up and coming Ivana Baquero who also starred in the film Pan’s Labyrinth which offered a stunning dark side to fantasy. She plays the “daughter” of Costner’s character in the film.

The story revolves a novelist played by Costner who settles into his new home with his daughter and son, where they begin to learn how to lead different lives after the father’s recent divorce. It is an old house located in the far south where the past seems to linger like shadows. There is a past hanging to these crumbling walls and even the surrounding forests, so isolated, remains instilled with darkness. Not even the sunlight can push away the blackness of this place. Baquero finds an odd looking burial mound very close by which is an elusive figure.

However, the building of tension and the crawling feeling of darkness makes perfect introduction to a growing horror that exists in this film. The Spanish director and screenwriter Luis Berdejo (his first film) knows how to handle mood, atmosphere. Just like the Japanese counterpart of horror films, he knows how to create an impending feeling that leaves you in a corner of shadows. If you don’t believe that the Spanish makes good horror films, check out “The Orphanage.”

There is one very effective scene with Baquero closing her window of her second floor bedroom, shutting away the silence of the night. However, in a long shot, you can see the young girl locking the window with a sharp click. Far to the right of the screen, barely noticeable, you can see movements of someone climbing the roof.

Much of the horror is hidden in shadows and stays in the interesting background of burial mounds and creatures living beneath the ground… it is almost as if the evolution of the human race has split off, inspiring something hellish, horrible. They make gifts to the gods in the form of straw dolls. They are savages that live in dirt. And their presence seems to affect the daughter who slowly regresses. There is also another back story about a previous owner who attempted to burn down the house.

The intention of these “mound walkers,” worshipping the gods, is to mate with the daughter to create another race of gods. So the vicious cycle can start all over again.

Baquero is one of my favorite actresses. Despite her youthful age, she exudes an intelligent façade in all her acting. She understands how to portray a girl who is undergoing changes in her sexuality. Every part of her drips with fierce sexuality that points to her ongoing changes in her personality. Hence, the title “New Daughter.” In fact, the film mentions the title once as part of the dialogue in a very poetic sense.

I liked this film.

Costner is very good in it too. His acting ranges involve his being a father at the appropriate age, and he clearly shows, in a downhill struggle, a man who is willing to do what he can to protect his family. Even against something he may not understand. The film works on a very indirect level with the changing daughter in connection to the demonic presence in the mound.

I would not rank this as highly as the excellent horror movie “Descent” which revolves around underground creatures that drags an unsuspecting group of cave dwellers into the bottomless darkness. But “New Daughter” still works well as it explores the family relationship between father and daughter. There are plenty good scenes between Costner and Baquero to choose from.

However, this film does deliver the goods. There is horror around every corner. The isolation of the house. The strange mound. Miles of forests. And the creatures in the ground are very well realized creations.

If anything, the underground creatures of “New Daughter” may bear a striking resemblance to those in “Descent.” Perhaps distant cousins?

There are several nice horror scenes of Baquero digging in the ground with her hands while she is at her school. Some of the scenes involving the police officer being dragged by the creatures by the side of the road at night creates a genuine atmosphere.

However, it is the final scene which invokes a great sense of horror as it ends with an anti-climax. You are left seeing the young son standing at the fence still holding the picture of his family. You can see the burning mound in the picture’s reflection after his father burned it down. You see an approaching figure in the reflection which looks like his father. But you’re not sure. But then you see, at a distance, the shrieking figure of the creature stalking the boy from behind. It’s a brilliant end which gives a Lovecraft-esque ending.

People usually like to see stories that have resolution, some sort of resolving. Not this one. This film gives an ambiguous ending that works with perfect horror. You’re left with a sense of uneasiness.

It's too bad that the film got poor circulation while the marketing genuises did nothing to promote the film. It could have gotten many horror fans to attend its theater showings.

For horror fans, this is a treat. But those who are not horror fanatics might still find the corresponding relationship between Costner and Baquero which carries the film very well. It’s definitely a sleeper film which will probably find its own following given time.