The Prodigy may not be your typical possession film in that the entity possessing the child in this film is not demonic, however it meets all the tropes of a demonic possession film, which is why it belongs in this section rather than any other. The premise is that a mother is dealing with a son who's body is inhabited by the soul of a reincarnated serial killer.
The biggest thing in this films favor is that unlike many possession films it sticks the landing, the family drama is front and center and Taylor Schilling does a great Ellen Burstyn impression as the tormented and desperate mother trying to figure out precisely what is going wrong with her child.
With all possession films you go into them knowing what to expect, essentially they're all trying to be The Exorcist and The Prodigy is no exception but I have to say even though it literally copies every single beat from the first two thirds of Friedkin's masterpiece it does so with an understanding of why those moments work.
It's like watching an above average cover band of The Beatles, sure there's little originality but they know how to play the hits. The writers understood that The Exorcist works because we buy into the performances and the character drama and that everything else is secondary.
The other thing this film copied from The Exorcist and it managed to do better than most films that center around the theme of pedophobia (the fear of children), is that its unafraid to get its child actors to say some really out there dark stuff. There is one scene in particular that while it is unmistakably a rip off of the scene with Regan in the therapists office in The Exorcist, works very well because it is unrestrained in how vile, calculated and awful the words coming out of the boys mouth are.
I also like that the film references the practically unknown cult 80's slasher "Fade To Black" with the child's make up being a direct reference to Eric Binford's...that's a little thing but as a devout horror fan it earns you a few points from me, for referencing something that only two percent or less of your audience will pick up on.
Overall the film is a well acted knock off but that's not an insult,
if all possession films stole from The Exorcist as well as this one does I'd enjoy far more of them.
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