Meet Bonnie Dearest, an evil young Christina Crawford lookalike who is allegedly murdering the older children of her adoptive parents (Malcolm Stoddard and Cyd Hayman) who took her in after the real mother (Angela Pleasance) abandons them. The parents barely even grieve their other children and it takes forever for them to suspect that Bonnie would curse Scotland as she turns into a dragon let alone be responsible for killing off her adopted siblings.

A British horror film that suffers from lack of a cast of familiar actors, that does actually benefited because at least you're not distracted by star quality and get to see seemingly real people in a horrific situation. But these seemingly ordinary people are dumber than a field of lavender, which Bonnie has turned into poppies, and that makes this movie both frustrating and slow because the horror going on is barely insinuated even though it's obviously there.

Some great location shots, particularly the site of a crumbling castle, aids this film in seeming better than it really is. Yes, we do see the parents in shock after the first few horrific situations, but then again they are gallivanting around minutes later as if nothing happened. There really isn't any suspense, and while the performances are decent, they are affected by the very slow pacing and poor script. Occult films like this are a dime of dozen from this era, and this is one of the weakest even if it isn't terrible.

Another movie about a seemingly cute child with a not-so-cute side; Portland's video/DVD store Movie Madness has in the horror section a whole shelf devoted to Killer Kids. In this case, a typical English family one day picks up a woman who gives birth in their house and then disappears without a trace, leaving her infant daughter with them. Sure enough, their children start getting killed. Basically a rehash of "The Bad Seed", "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Omen". Still, "The Godsend" has a neat side, as the vicious little girl makes some faces that no one would ever associate with a little girl; she did look kind of scary.

But in the grand scheme of things, there's nothing new or important about this movie. Not to mention that it ends rather abruptly. Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus produced much better movies over the years. This is the sort of flick that you rent if there's absolutely nothing else available.

A strange pregnant woman (a memorable and quietly sinister performance by Donald Pleasence's daughter Angela) shows up unexpectedly at a country cottage owned by a young couple with four kids. The woman gives birth to a daughter and then promptly vanishes. The couple decide to raise the girl Bonnie (ably played to the supremely creepy hilt by Joanne Boorman and Wilhelmina Green) as if she was their own, only to have Bonnie grow up to be an evil brat who starts bumping off her other siblings. Director Gabrielle Beaumont, working from a bold and compact script by Olaf Pooley, relates the compellingly twisted story at a hypnotically gradual pace, does an ace job of crafting a grim and unsettling atmosphere, grounds the fantastic premise in a believable workaday reality, and makes nice use of the beautiful bucolic locations. Moreover, Beaumont warrants extra praise for handling the dark and upsetting subject matter in a tasteful and restrained, yet still effective and disturbing manner as well as for using a low-key approach that puts a noted emphasis on an eerie and subtly unnerving mood over cheap shocks and graphic gore. Malcolm Stoddard and Cyd Hayman are solid and credible as the concerned and increasingly distraught parents, with sturdy support from Patrick Barr as friendly physician Dr. Collins. Norman Warwick's sharp cinematography offers several stunning panoramic shots of the breathtaking British countryside. Roger Webb's robust shuddery score hits the spine-tingling spot. This picture acquires an extra chilling sting from its intriguing ambiguity (for example, we never find out exactly why Bonnie is so wicked). Worth a watch.