The Prodigy centres around a young boy that possesses a genius intellect but also has a more sinister side to him that comes out throughout the course of the film.
The movie itself has a lot to unpack from it and throughout this video I’ll be breaking down everything that you need to know about the movie and it’s ending.
There will be heavy spoilers here, so if you don’t want to know anything about the movie then I highly suggest that you turn off now.
For everyone else, I’m Deffinition and Welcome to the channel where I ruin it so you don’t have to!
The Prodigy Ending Explained
The film opens on The Thrash Creek Slasher, a serial killer that tortures young women. The mass murderer takes a lot of inspiration from Ted Bundy who uses his charm to entice girls in before kidnapping and killing them. The killer’s calling card is cutting off the victim’s right and he is pretty widely feared.
However during one murder, that would turn out to be his last, his victim manages to escape and alert the police who kill him. The serial killer dies at the exact same time that a child is born and this sets up the events of the film.
The Prodigy diverts from the evil child aesthetic that we’ve seen in movies like The Omen, The Exorcist and more by actually focusing on reincarnation, which is a fresh take on the genre.
Because the Thrash Creek Slasher had unfinished business, the killer is left in limbo and is able to inhabit and share a body with a newly born boy named Miles.
This is symbolised by the fact that miles has two differently coloured eyes and showcases his connection with the killer.
Miles seemed ‘MILES’ ahead of people his age…sorry for the pun there, and it’s clear that the boy is advanced beyond his years. Throughout the film he has conversations with himself in Hungarian which is the language that the killer spoke and it’s clear that the two are aware of one another.
How The Reincarnation Works
In the film we learn that at the age of 8, the more dominant personality will take full control of the body and the film predominantly centres around Miles at this age. After causing trouble and seeming like he has a sinister side, his parents send him to a specialist who studies reincarnation and states that it’s a naturally occurring part of the universe and we often get evidence towards it in childbirth.
It’s suggested that at the age of 8, the full control of the body makes the child lose their memories and this is why reincarnation stories often end with the memories of the past life being forgotten.
We are then told that in order for the spirit of the serial killer to leave Mile’s body that they must complete his final kill and with his mother the two go and murder the Thrash Creek Slasher’s final victim.
Whilst this should finally free Miles, we actually learn that the killer has actually been in control of the body for a long time and has only been pretending to be two people so that he can manipulate those around him into allowing his killing spree to continue.
Mile’s mother realises this and just as she is about to kill him, a neighbour stops by and kills her, in his mind doing the right thing and stopping the death of a child. This then allows the killer to put back up his pretence of being a young boy. Down the line we see that Miles has been adopted by a new family and is once again working on carrying out his killing spree on a whole new set of victims, thus ending the film.
The Prodigy Review
The movie is much better on a second watch as you are able to watch The Killer keep up the pretense of being two people at once and it elevates it slightly which of course adds a lot of weight to the eventual twist.
Similar to The Omen, as I mentioned earlier, it’s great when a horror subverts your expectation and has an unhappy ending that shows that the good guys don’t always win.
I had a lot of fun with The Prodigy would definitely love to hear your thoughts on it. Make sure you let me know in the comments below.
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