The Prodigy director had to re-edit the film due to its intense scare factor

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Attention Horror movie fans, you might find yourselves lined up for more than a few good scares when director Nicholas McCarthy's THE PRODIGY arrives in theaters on February 8, 2019. Oh, but you don't have to take my word for it. Recently, a test audience for the upcoming film were real glad they'd decided to wear their brown pants to the theater that evening, as they'd reportedly found a portion of the movie to be so terrifying that McCarthy felt the need to re-edit the film on account of all the screaming.

“I’ll say this,” said Nicholas while recently speaking with Entertainment Weekly. “The first time we previewed the movie, there is a section where people screamed so loud that we had to go back and re-edit the scene that followed it, because people were still recovering from what they had just seen, and they were missing the dialogue.”

Ha! This reminds me of a test screening I'd attended in Brooklyn, New York for Gore Verbinski's THE RING. Members of the audience were shouting so loud during the show that it was almost impossible to hear a vast majority of the film's dialogue. To be honest, it was an unforgettable experience to say the least, and I thank every last person in that crowd for the fond memory. Y'all were hilarious.

THE PRODIGY, directed by Nicholas McCarthy (HOME, THE PACT) from a script penned by Jeff Buhler (PET SEMETARY, NIGHTFLYERS), tells the story of a concerned mother, Sarah (Taylor Schilling), whose young son Miles (Jackson Robert Scott) begins exhibiting disturbing behavior that makes her think that he's possessed by a supernatural entity.

In talking more about the upcoming frightfest, Nicholas told EW, “Four years ago, I was sent a script for this movie. For the first half, I was thinking, ‘Wow, this is a really interesting, and creepy, and twisted variation on the evil kid subgenre.’ But then the script just went to this place that I couldn’t believe. That’s what made me go from, ‘Here’s a movie I think might be cool’ to, ‘Here’s a movie that’s gotta be made.'”

As evidenced by the test audience's reaction to the film, it sounds as if Nicholas has tapped into something truly sinister with THE PRODIGY. Granted, 'evil kid' movies are a dime a dozen these days, but who's to say that this new tale won't bring something fresh and frightening to the table? We'll know if THE PRODIGY has what it takes to keep viewers clutching their seats and choking on popcorn soon enough, when the film creeps into theaters on February 8, 2019.