Scott Haze convincingly plays the title role as Lester Ballard, a mentally deficient adult who lives off the land in rural Tennessee. He is the type of man who yells at passing cars. The film is set in the 1950s (?) in late autumn. The only home Lester has known was recently auctioned off. Through a series of circumstances Lester discovers necrophilia, which has never been one of my favorite film topics, except for maybe as a dark comedy which this wasn't.I will say the acting was excellent. The story was done well, bravo James Franco, but unfortunately didn't go anywhere. This is an excellent crime/ drama/ thriller, I didn't enjoy.Parental Guide: F-bomb, sex, necrophilia, nudity (Nina Ljeti, Elena McGhee)

Cormac McCarthy's CHILD OF GOD was about as disturbing a book as I've ever read (and that's saying a lot): Lester Ballard reminded me a great deal of Bubba Sawyer ("Leatherface" in THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE, who was based on real-life cannibal killer and necropheliac Ed Gein). To do the book justice, however, would've required a very subtle approach- perhaps even a documentary approach. The flamboyant, over-the-top performance of the lead owes more to Leatherface than to an honest interpretation of the CHILD OF GOD. (The opening scenes are like something from a film school project- or, worse still, a television commercial- with their jerky, hand-held cinema verite look that adds absolutely nothing to the movie.) CHILD OF GOD has Form, but no real filmmaking Substance. One of the most glaring gaffs has to be the hillbilly's oral hygiene: how in God's name did he manage to get his choppers so WHITE...?

Not having read the novel (but I will soon), I do not have the burden of comparison that some other reviewers have. I found the film very interesting, in that it portrayed a human being descending into the lowest level of degradation. But his degradation is fueled by the same needs that all children of God have. His disgrace comes in the way he seeks to meet those needs, not in the actual needs themselves. Everyone in the film thinks that Lester is stupid, but he is not, as the ending shows. He is cunning and skilled beyond many of his community. Neither is he summarily shunned by everyone in his surrounding community; many seem to be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to daily interactions (for example, the boutique clerk, and the carnival). But his evil attitudes and paranoid suspicions involving social interactions drag him deeper and deeper in to inhumanity. I had to admire the acting of Scott Haze. Yes, I could have done without the defecation scene near the start, but all the other disgraceful scenes seemed essential to the unfolding of the character. Strangely fascinating.

A One Man Freak Show, a Film Made by the Prolific (but rarely good) James Franco from the Controversial Cormac McCarthy Novel of the the Same Name, this is a Disgusting, Depraved, Demented Character Study About a Feral Character that No One of Sound Mind Would Want to Study.It is a Sideshow Show with a Geek at the Forefront for Nearly Two Hours as the Audience is Given Loving Closeups of Defecation and Ass-Wiping with a Stick. Now there is Something You Don't See Everyday Franco Seems to be Saying, Along with Inhaling and Exhaling Gobs of Snot. He's Right. But the Film is All Wrong.Boring, Incomprehensible Dialog, Long, Long Scenes of Repetition (dragging a corpse upstairs, slinking through a cave), that Go On Forever and Pad the Already Hard to Take Film into a Length that Defies its Content.Much Acclaim has been Awarded to Scott Haze as the Title Character but Truth be Told it is an Easy Part, with some Physical Strain. The Mumbling and Staring Eyes are Forever Present and it isn't a Performance it's Mugging and Not Much of a Stretch Once the Actor is Dirtied Up and Left to Run Amok Amongst the Damp and Depressing Scenery.Overall, it is an Indulgent bit of Carnival that is One More Take on the Ed Gein Story and After Psycho (1960) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1972) did We Need Another? The Answer, at Least After Enduring This Bit of Nastiness, is (with a Rebel Yell)...Noooo.