A review of “Daddy’s Girl”

Confessions of a Film Junkie: A review of “Daddy’s Girl”

By: Brian Cotnoir

   The 1996 Horror movie “Daddy’s Girl” is one of the worst attempts I have seen of someone trying to make a film.  The synopsis of the film is something totally unoriginal and it is something that we have seen in other horror films before; a loving suburban family adopts a seemingly sweet, innocent, and harmless orphan girl to raise as their own.  The child appears to be absolutely perfect, but then something in them snaps and the child starts the slow ascent into the “Electra complex” and starts killing people who try to take their father away from them, while at the same time trying to show off their childlike innocence and charm in public.      
                        

Gabrielle Boni plays the films Evil Ginger Child

My number one problem with this story is the subtlety of the actors.  There is just nothing subtle about any of the actors in this film and a lot of the things they say are just too blunt, and because of their bluntness the story and the film suffer greatly. The lead child actress in this film, Gabrielle Boni, is convincing as a young sociopath, but does not show many other real emotions in the film, and every adult in this film seems totally unsuspicious that this 11-year-old girl is talking about murder and makes the most morbid remarks at others misfortunes.  I can’t tell if the other actors are trying to portray ignorance or if they’re just stupid.  I find it kind of sad that the best actors in the film were the two child actors.  Every adult actor in this film portrayed their roles with blind ignorance and act like total morons.  I wouldn’t be surprised if none of them have found work in acting since the release of this film.                                     

   
   I’ve seen this kind of story done in other films before and I’ve even seen a few of them done well, but “Daddy’s Girl” doesn’t even come close being a good film; this film makes “Case 39” look like “Silence of the Lambs” it’s that bad. This film could have had potential but instead it to remain as a speck on the excrements of what is a truly awful horror film.