Cheesy fight flick tries to bask in the horrific glory which was once Rosemary's Baby and The Omen, but ends up feeling like The Good Son instead. Conceptually, Joshua could have had a lot going for it. Sibling rivalry, which formed the basis of this far-fetched tension, is as good a plot device as any to further the suspense, and at times the darkened bedroom scares elicited from the script do effectively make viewers hold there breath. These moments are so few and far between however, that the inherent comedy beneath this half-baked excursion begins to seep out at an alarming rate, climaxing with one of the worst end scenes in recent memory.

Mainly the scares fail because the lead character, this evil child whom we are supposed to fear, just comes across as silly and unrealistic in nearly every scene. Though his parents might have helped sustain certain scenes a little more (Vera Farmiga in particular stands out as the depressed mother), lead Jacob Kogan is simply unequipped to deliver his role in convincing fashion. From his demeanor to his dress, Joshua is written like a cardboard cutout stereotype of the young eccentric evil genius to a tee, almost always opting for bland, misjudged characterization as opposed to any sort of real personality that might have in fact provided a believable fright.