Horror Movie Review: Milo (1998)

Milo is a horror movie about an evil child. Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Covered in late 90’s horror gloss, this is a horror that gets somethings right and somethings wrong. The end result is extremely mixed, maybe you’ll love it but many will hate it.

It begins really strongly.

A group of young girls are hanging out with the resident weird schoolkid, Milo. He takes them to his house where he shows them jars of aborted fetuses that his father has kept being the town’s abortionist. As you do.

If that wasn’t weird enough, Milo himself is a bit ‘off’ as he attacks the girls, killing one and hurting another. It’s a great opening and when we cut to modern times, anticipation is high for what might happen next.

The girl who was hurt by Milo is now an adult. Marian (Paula Cale) is back in town for her friend’s wedding but makes the unfortunate discovery that she has died in a car accident. She decides to stay for a while and take over her friend’s class being a teacher herself. Everything seems fairly normal until she begins to see Milo out and about. Easy to spot thanks to the yellow raincoat he wears.

No-one believes Marian of course until the rest of her friends start to wind up dead. How could Milo be back though?

The biggest issue with Milo is that it loses more and more momentum the longer it goes on. What starts off pretty interesting ends up feeling lacklustre as the film drags its way towards the finale.

Tasked with holding the movie up. Paula Cale is decent in her role. Her character is a little too stupid at times but she plays up to gravity of the situation well. She reacts as a person might react which is always good to see. Unfortunately, she is the only one as the rest of the cast are cookie cutter blandness. You won’t remember a single name.

I’d love to say that Milo is a creepy kid but other then his weird voice, he isn’t effective. The problem lies in just who or what he is. Late in the movie it is revealed that he drowned at a very young age and is supposedly buried in his father’s garden. So, he’s supernatural? Maybe go out of your way to explain this then?

Boredom begins to set in near the end and even a frantic face-off fails to ignite any passion at that stage. The movie plays it far too safe and serious in the end which is a shame considering the silliness of the story.