Children of the Pines Movie Review
Writer/director Joshua Morgan’s Children of The Pines is a disturbing, slow burning supernatural tale about manipulation and redemption. It all centers around a young woman’s reluctant visit home from college during winter vacation to see her estranged parents. Once she arrives, things take a strangely sinister turn.
Children of The Pines opens with a scene depicting a mother and her young daughter fearfully hiding from the raging, alcoholic husband/father figure. As the opening credits roll, we hear a voiceover say how sad life is.
Kathy (Danielle Bowman), the mother from the opening scene, meets with an oddly pleasant older woman named Lorelei (Donna Are Allen). Lorelei is a therapist of sorts. Kathy and her husband John (Richard Cohn-Lee) have been referred to her by friends.
Once the “therapy” session begins, Kathy is clearly uncomfortable with Lorelei’s approach. Kathy explains that all she really wants is for her estranged daughter Riley (Kelly Tappan), to come back to the family fold. She also explains that John has come a long way as a husband and has even stopped drinking. Lorelei is a smooth talker and describes how successful the healing process that she and her husband Leon (David Raizor) offer has been as they’ve been doing it for 35 years. So, with a little more discussion and persuasion to join their guaranteed 30-day “program”, Kathy is given a huge old book to take home. Hmmmm … curious.
Then we follow Riley on her drive home from college. She arrives back in town and stops off at the local diner for a quick bite and, lo and behold, the fella who takes her order is none other than her ex-boyfriend from high school, Gordon (Vas Provatakis). He’s happy to see her and the feeling is kind of mutual
The two sit and exchange some awkward chit-chat. Riley discovers that Gordon has been working for Riley’s dad’s firm and helping him around the house building a garden while she’s been away, and she thinks that’s rather odd. This is just the tip of the bizarre iceberg. After she leaves the diner, she heads home to see what’s up at the ol’ homestead.
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Once she arrives at her folks’ cabin, Kathy tries to talk to Riley about both the good and the not so good times. She and Riley have a few laughs, and she tries to convince Riley that her dad has changed, that he’s a “new” man. When Riley asks where her dad is, Kathy tells her he’s out with “the kids”. Riley is taken aback because as far as she knew, she was an only child.
Once she has a one-on-one with John, he’s not really welcoming. Riley tries to converse with him nonetheless, and as she talks with him, she notices the certificates of his and Kathy’s completion of the Church of Wiccan Studies hanging on the wall near her graduation picture. He offers an explanation and then takes her upstairs to meet “the kids”. It’s at this point that things get … strange.
Oh, and let’s not forget Lorelei and Leon. We’re treated to a flashback of their goings on back at their therapy temple or whatever you want to call it. Let’s be real here, it’s a fucking cult and they’re all robed up and doing their thing. We get a little blood and gore, but nothing to write home about.
But back at Riley’s folks’ house, things are getting more interesting. The kids Riley’s introduced to have been created from Kathy and John’s souls … or something like that. They’re exact replicas of them … aka, their chance for redemption. And as Riley’s homecoming treat, Kathy and John want to give the same “gift” to Riley and Gordon by performing the same ritual they used to produce these miracle kids for their chance at a do over. Talk about keeping it in the family!
I won’t tell you how Children of The Pines ends, but I will state that this movie ends on a really questionable note. Can a toxic person ever be changed? This movie seems to think the answer is no as the behaviors shown by the characters who have gone through measures to change for the better, or so they think, really are worse than before.
Children of The Pines is a weirdly interesting film. The cinematography and the score are well executed. The acting is strong. My only complaint is that I wish there was a bit more strength in the storytelling. The concept is interesting; however, I wish there had been a bit more explanation of it.
If you want to give Children of The Pines a watch, it’s now streaming on all platforms.
