directed by chuck russell ; produced by mace neufeld . written by clifford green , ellen green , tom rickman ; based on the novel by cathy cash spellman . photographed by peter menzies jr ; edited by alan heim . after winning an oscar for " l . a . confidential " , kim basinger had a baby and took a rest from movies for three years . this is not a great way to return . " bless the child " is yet another shoddy and uninteresting movie about dark forces -- throw it onto the pile with " stigmata " and " book of shadows : blair witch 2 " . basinger stars as maggie o'connor , a psychiatric nurse left to raise her young niece cody ( holliston coleman ) when her heroin-addicted sister jenna ( angela bettis ) skips town . the child is quiet and withdrawn -- autistic , everyone assumes , until she's kidnapped by a gang of satan-worshipping child killers who have discovered she's the second coming , and want to use her power for evil . the first half of the movie involves basinger's raising of the child ; it's dumb in its hammy dialogue and cliched , obvious scenes of creepy noises coming from nowhere clear , but so familiar it's somewhat involving , and contains the potential to turn into good pulp fiction . structural elements are stolen from " the exorcist " , and hey , if you're gonna steal , steal from the best . ah , but it turns to vinegar . it's annoying stupid , not fun stupid . there are a parade of vulgar scenes depicting the kid's greatness , showing her bring birds back to life and light candles through telekinesis , during which i thought , shouldn't the child of god be a wise and kind-hearted revolutionary , rather than a smug little kid pulling houdini tricks ? several moments defy common sense , such as one in which a cult defector sits in a cafe giving basinger information , and in run a bunch of satanists who give the defector chase and don't think to touch basinger at all . the movie wants us to take it seriously , and yet there are sneering villains , guns waved around , and cars dangling off bridges . it's funny at times -- how could it not be when one of the baddies is a ludicrously stone-faced mrs . danvers clone , the climax takes place in a cobweb-filled haunted house , and at one point knitting needles are used as murder weapons ? at other times it's just sick -- you can't laugh too hard when you're watching devil-worshippers burning homeless people to death and committing ritual infanticide . one other thing -- the special effects are terrible . they look like pieces of cartoon superimposed over live action . five years ago movie visuals were so perfect that mentioning them in reviews seemed redundant . nowadays they almost always suck . a sign , perhaps , that the digital revolution ain't all it's cracked up to be ? copyright 2001 ian waldron-mantganithe uk critic is located at www . ukcritic . com 
