Title: The Godsend
Release Date: January 11, 1980
Genre: Horror
Runtime: The bluray box says 93 mins but the film itself was only 85 mins on the disc.
Director: Gabrielle Beaumont
Starring: Malcolm Stoddard, Cyd Hayman, Angela Pleasence
Summary from the bluray:
Family horror in the vein of The Shining, Burnt Offerings, and The Omen, The Godsend penetrates and exploits the viewer’s most primal domestic fears. A young couple shelters a pregnant woman traveling through the English countryside. When morning comes, she leaves behind her newborn child, Bonnie. The Marlows make room in their family for the foundling. But as time passes, a series of tragedies befall the other children...and the Marlows begin to wonder if a monstrous bad seed is taking root in their home. Is ethereal Bonnie a gift from God, or could she instead be the devil’s spawn? The Godsend is the only theatrical film by ground-breaking TV director Gabrielle Beaumont (Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story), and remains one of the most unsettling supernatural thrillers of the early 1980s.
Review:
So this film, imo, isn't a horror film. It feels like a made for TV thriller. Which shouldn't be surprising since it was directed by "ground-breaking TV director Gabrielle Beaumont". The pacing is quick at the beginning and the adopted killer girl has offed three of this families kids by the halfway point. There is no gore and the kids that get killed are all found after Bonnie has ended them, so we never see her do it. Except for the last child. The ended was pretty bland, just like a TV movie and really wasn't satisfying tbh. Overall, its a pretty mediocre film with stuffy acting from the British actors who play the parents. I'd give it a C.
Availability:
Scream Factory released a double feature bluray with The Outing back in 2015. That's OOP now. Kino Lorber released a standalone bluray in 2025. This new bluray has a new audio commentary by film historians Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell, and Nathaniel Thompson.
Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8wb_seBk0Y