Newly released in the Biblical prophecy horror genre is “Bless the Child.” This supernatural tale starring Kim Basinger and Jimmy Smits, opens with Basinger’s character, Maggie O’Connor, riding the bus. A stranger tells her that a star not seen since Jesus’ birth is again in the sky. When Maggie gets home, she finds her drug addict sister, Jenna, played by Angela Bettis. Not only is Jenna strung-out, she has given birth to a baby girl only six days earlier. After an argument, Jenna leaves without the baby she has named Cody. Good riddance to bad rubbish, one thinks. Guess again. The years pass and Cody, played by cute-as-a-button Holliston Coleman, is now 6 years old. She is not like an ordinary little girl. As her Aunt Maggie tells a doctor, “It’s like she’s listening to something we can’t hear.” The doctor, however, believes Cody has a mild form of autism and suggests a Catholic school that helps mentally handicapped children. A spree of child murders is now taking place. All of the victims are 6 years old, all have the same birthday. When the bodies are recovered, strange markings have been carved into their skin. A bald man with the promise of a puppy tricks the latest victim into a black van. Enter Jimmy Smits’ character, FBI Agent John Travis. Travis is no average FBI agent. A graduate of a Jesuit seminary, Travis stopped short of becoming a priest. An occult expert, Travis identifies the markings on the bodies as those used by a satanic cult. The film bounces back to Cody, who is displaying some powers to spin objects such as glitter in a water globe and a toy truck via telekinesis. She is also drawing pictures of the murder victims. When a bird hits the window of her classroom and breaks its neck, she brings it back to life. The mysterious bald man in the black van sees this. A nurse at a hospital, Maggie has an unusual patient one night when a junkie, played by Christina Ricci, is admitted. She tells Maggie she knows Jenna, who Maggie has not seen since Cody was abandoned, and says not to let “them” get Cody. Before Maggie can learn more, this mysterious junkie disappears. Soon after that, Jenna reappears in Maggie’s life with her new husband Eric Stark, played by Rufus Sewell. Earlier in the film, we see Stark on a television program as a leader of a movement similar to Dianetics, providing hope to the hopeless. Although only married a month, Jenna is now clean and demanding the return of her child. Maggie does not outright refuse, but wants Jenna reintroduced into Cody’s life in a gentle, gradual fashion. Stark has other plans and kidnaps Cody. Maggie goes to the police where she meets Travis. Although it is determined that Cody has the exact same birthday as the other victims, the police are powerless to do anything because Cody was taken by her mother. The film moves along at a quickening pace. Maggie must shift out of her orderly frame of mind and world. The mysterious junkie reappears and gives Maggie a gun and an address where she can find Cody. Before more can be said, a gang of young people chase the junkie into the subway. Maggie follows and is hit on the head. From this point until the remainder of the movie, she sees demons. Maggie goes to the address provided by the junkie, and after trying to get Cody away from Stark and Jenna, she is drugged. When she comes to, she finds herself going the wrong way on a heavily trafficked bridge. Almost plunging over the guardrails, she is helped out of her car by a stranger. As she turns to thank him, he is not there. This occurrence of people popping in and out of her and Travis’ lives alludes that there are angels helping them. This is an interesting film in terms of Christian beliefs. One cannot help but get goosebumps in viewing the demons. Despite their evil connotations, they are excellent examples of computer animation. Of greater interest, however, is the unspoken conclusion that Cody might be the Second Coming of Christ. Although the characters in the film refer to her as an intermediary between humanity and God, they stop short of saying that she is a reincarnation of the Christian savior. Presumably this was done to placate stringent fundamentalists. Yet the parallels are there and pointed out. Not a great film, but a good one, “Bless the Child” is worth going to see.