The film centers on Ted (Jared Breeze) an overly bored 9 year boy who lives alone with his dad (David Morse). They run a motel that has seen better days. Ted stays busy "baiting" the roadway and getting paid a bounty for roadkill. He has developed an unhealthy fascination about death. We later find out his goal is to be united with his mother, somewhere in Florida.The film is an interesting character study as we wonder about the near sociopath nature of Ted arising from the desire for companionship and not being able to achieve it. Guests pop in and out from time to time and Ted manages to maintain an unacceptable relationship with the guests, spurned on by his frustration and desire.Guide: F-bomb. No sex or nudity.

Well, innocence is not angelic by definition. At least not always. It can be evil as well. This story underlines this fact in the most straightforward way i have ever seen on screen. Actually i am one of those who think that as people grow up, it's instinctively the evil that prevails in their choices and it's only through education, culture, experience and guidance that they get to understand that moral values should prevail as the only way of coexistence with other human beings. All living beings have instincts, so do humans. All living beings have "wants" cause they have needs, so do humans. Only humans, unlike animals, have also a brain that makes them want more than just a basic self preservation demands. And once they are not efficiently trained to pursue their demands without making second thoughts about a coexistence code given the existing human society, the only rule that prevails in their brain is the rule of the jungle. The "boy" in this film looks like an angel and actually could be not far from being one. But living without anything that could provide him with essential things to face the absolute loneliness and lack of any code of how far he can go with his -actually not at all excessive - demands he just gets to consider normal, things that should otherwise be taught to avoid. Trying to do his life better(he actually wants to escape from the isolated place he is doomed to live in) he gets gradually more and more accustomed with death and finally does not hesitate -actually he does it as if it's a fully justified, natural thing- to bring about the ultimate horror. Ted -that's the boy's name if i remember well- is not at all illustrated in this film as the cursed satanic "Demian" of the "Prophecy" child. What we have here is the case of a very normal, intelligent, extremely sweet, really adorable little fellow and not of any evil spirits possessions, anything but that. Actually that's what makes the story and its leading character more frightening than any corresponding "Profecy" or "Halloween" screen child murderers. It's just a sweet next door little man we have here, could be mine or yours and yet far too unknown far as his needs are concerned, needs which potentially under certain circumstances may cause destructive events and get us to really know him through them when it's too late. The film itself is very "flat" in the sense that not too many things happen in the most of it, but it's this "flat" approach that makes it realistic and so very interesting to watch as it slowly yet persistently introduces us to the "boy" 's world. In brief, a very honest, very good American film about two beautiful blue, sweet, angelic, innocent and yet evil eyes.

A more descriptive title for this film might be "A Portrait of the Psychopath as a 9-Year-Old Boy," but whatever you call it, it's a creepy, mostly effective examination of profoundly disturbed child Ted (Jared Breeze) trapped in an isolated existence in a run-down, failing motel run by his broken father (David Morse).Death and decay are the overriding preoccupations here, especially young Ted's growing fascination with anything dead and dying, so much so that he starts to engineer the outcomes he's intrigued by with increasingly dire consequences. This isn't a film that necessarily can be spoiled (though I won't give away plot developments) because you can see where it's going almost from the first scene. Director/co-writer Craig William Macneill is not interested in surprises or twists, but in constructing an atmosphere that leads inexorably to the what seems like the inevitable finale. He does so through long, static (or nearly so) shots of scenery and action that is often filmed at a remove -- characters half-hidden by obstructions of various types or framed in the background. He gets a lot of mileage out of the desolate beauty of his location. This was filmed in Colombia, but is set in non- specific rural U.S. roughly two days drive from Florida (that's as specific as it gets). Like Macneill's angelic-looking star, the scenery here could be quite pleasant, peaceful and innocent, but the film instead emphasizes its (and Ted's) more menacing, uncaring qualities. The particular combination of stylistic characteristics he evokes is a bit like Alfred Hitchcock meets Peter Greenaway, minus the lushness.Breeze and Morse carry the lion's share of the film on their very capable shoulders. Rainn Wilson and, somewhat surprisingly, Mike Vogel are also on hand in smaller, not terribly demanding roles. Breeze, especially, is very effective without resorting to showier. idiosyncratic or self-conscious acting that child performers in horror movies are often directed to perform. Breeze's matter-of- fact, naturalistic performance helps sell the extent to which some of what Ted gets up to is what any lonely kid trying to amuse and occupy himself would do, while some is only what a child lacking any empathy could do.This is a pretty dour movie -- there aren't any obvious characters to root for or even be engaged by save Ted and his unfortunate father. There's not much to cheer here, nor much relief from the bleak view of humanity, nature and how they intersect. As such, it's not a fun watch, but it is intriguing and stylish enough to hold viewers' interest, if they approach it in the right frame of mind.

To start off, I want to say that Jared Breeze performed AMAZING in the movie. I can really sense and feel Ted's loneliness through the his eyes. I really want to enter the movie and befriend him. It was so agonizing to witness a child grow up in such an isolated and deserted place. If I was Ted, I would literally stomp right out of that motel and never come back.You can also see that Ted does so much, only for one purpose: To find his mother who has apparently left with a 'trucker' years ago to Florida (which I'm fairly certain the trucker is actually 'William Colby' - played by Rainn Wilson).Ted's father, John Henley (David Morse) tries to care for his son, but I guess he's too depressed to do so, leaving Ted to wonder off on his own every day. The thing I don't get is there's literally only him and his son Ted in that deserted motel, with occasional customers. John also mentioned that he knows Ted gets very lonely in the motel and that he has no friends. So why does John not spend more time with his son? Is he THAT depressed to the point where he just sits in the motel all day and do nothing, EVERYDAY?It was just something that I felt I had to get off my chest when I was watching the movie. COME ON JOHN, YOUR SON NEEDS YOU. Why're you still sitting on the couch?!The scene where the bunch of prom teens bullied Ted was also pretty brutal. I felt SO sad for Ted, like really sad. Screw those teens... BUT the worse part was when Ted went to seek his dad for comfort, and John just reprimanded Ted for not leaving the customers alone.JOHN, YOUR SON JUST GOT BEATEN UP, SHOW HIM SOME LOVE. OH NO YOU JUST HAD TO SCOLD HIM. YOU HAD TO, DIDN'T YOU?To conclude, this movie was AMAZING. The cast performed great and contrary to many who say the pace of this movie was too slow, I felt that it was necessary. It was necessary for the audience to witness truly how lonely and boring life was for Ted - which will then allow them to understand why Ted was so eager to leave the motel and look for his mom.This movie definitely won't make you feel happy and I'm pretty sure it wasn't made to. But this movie was able to evoke many emotions from me, which I think is what makes a movie successful. A good movie doesn't always have happy endings or make audiences happy.I'm no great movie reviewer or critic, all these are just my thoughts after watching the movie.