The Prodigy (film)

On August 22, 2010, in rural Ohio, serial killer Edward Scarka is fatally shot during a police raid of his farmhouse. At the time of Edward's death, married couple Sarah and John give birth to their son, Miles, in Pennsylvania. Miles shows extreme wisdom and intelligence from a young age and begins speaking fluently before he is even a toddler.

When Miles turns eight in 2018, Sarah and John begin noticing behavioural changes in him. One night he plays a prank on his babysitter Zoe, seriously injuring her, but claims no memory of the incident. At school, he attacks a classmate with a wrench. Sarah takes Miles to psychiatrist Elaine Strasser and turns over a tape recording of him talking apparent gibberish in his sleep. Elaine gives the tape to a colleague, Arthur Jacobson, an expert on rebirth and reincarnation. Arthur reveals that the gibberish Miles spoke is, in fact, a rare dialect of Hungarian and that the words translate to "I'll cut your eyes out and watch you die, whore."

Sarah is unwilling to believe Arthur's assertion that an unsettled spirit wants control of the boy's body. At home, the family's dog goes missing, and John becomes infuriated when he finds that Miles has been recording the couple's bedroom with a baby monitor. John leaves to stay with his brother, leaving Sarah alone with Miles. Sarah later finds a swarm of flies in the house and discovers the family's dismembered dog in the basement. Miles apologizes, explaining that someone is invading his dreams every night and that he has to "make room."

Sarah takes Miles to see Arthur, who hypnotizes him in the hopes of engaging in past life regression, which will allow him to speak to the dark spirit in Miles' body. The regression is successful and the individual explains that his parents were Hungarian immigrants. The session goes awry when Miles threatens to accuse Arthur of drugging and molesting him, which prompts Arthur to end the session. Afterwards, Arthur finds "Scarka" carved into his leather couch from the boy's fingernails. He calls Sarah and explains that he believes Miles' body is being possessed by Edward Scarka, attempting to return to continue his killing spree.

Upon researching Edward, Sarah finds he died only minutes before Miles' birth and is startled to see that, like Miles, he had two different-coloured eyes. John and Sarah decide to have Miles committed, but Miles stabs John en route to the facility, causing him to crash; John goes into a coma as a result of the accident. In Miles' room, Sarah uncovers a cache of newspaper clippings about Edward's crimes, as well as a book by Margaret St. James, Edward's final victim, who escaped and led authorities to him.

Sarah realizes Edward is attempting to return to claim Margaret. She decides to kill Margaret herself, ending Edward's need for Miles' body. She drugs Miles with sleeping pills and the two drive to Margaret's rural farmhouse. Sarah poses as a battered woman who was touched by Margaret's book, persuading Margaret to allow her inside. She then draws a gun but is unable to bring herself to shoot. Miles enters and brutally attacks Margaret with a butcher knife, stabbing and disemboweling her. Sarah chases Miles outside to console him, believing Edward has left his body now that his final deed is complete. However, he reveals that Edward has taken full control, and Miles' soul has already been vanquished.

Horrified, Sarah attempts to shoot him, but before she can, a farmer shoots her with a rifle, killing her instantly. Sometime later, Miles is taken to live in a temporary foster home until John is discharged from the hospital. In his new bedroom, Miles stares into a mirror, which reflects the image of Edward.

• Taylor Schilling as Sarah Blume
• Jackson Robert Scott as Miles Blume / Edward Scarka
  • David Kohlsmith as Miles, age 5
  • Paul Fauteux as Edward Scarka
• Colm Feore as Arthur Jacobson
• Brittany Allen as Margaret St. James
• Peter Mooney as John Blume
• Oluniké Adeliyi as Rebecca
• Elisa Moolecherry as Zoe
• Paula Boudreau as Dr. Elaine Strasser
• Martin Roach as Dr. Kagan
• Ashley Back as Hailey
• Tristan Vasquez as Dash

The film was released in the United States on February 8, 2019, by Orion Pictures.

• Official website
• The Prodigy at IMDb
• The Prodigy at Rotten Tomatoes