Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘11/11/11’

Written by Scott Edwards

Parents are often over protective of their children. Regardless what their kids are going through, parents are always there to make sure the journey goes smooth and without any bumps that can avoided. Although parents mean the best when doing this, some of their actions could hinder a child’s growth and not let them figure out things for themselves.

Jack and Melissa Vales are on their way to their new home with son Nathan. Nathan, ‘Nat’ is not happy about the move to the new area and in protest is refusing to speak to his parents. Although Nat is choosing not to engage his parents in everyday conversations, he will still let out a word or two when he feels it is important. Meeting up with Janice, the local welcoming committee and Nat, notice that their new address equals 11. With his parents taking little interest in this, they go about their duties of making their new house livable but notice there is a strange claw like marking on one of their walls. Calling in a local painter to do a touchup on the wall, he is scared away by the marks and ends up running into the street and getting hit by a car. Nat sees the entire event and neither Jack nor Melissa seem to understand what is happening to their only son.  

The Vales’ new neighbor, Annie, an older woman that seems to be a bit off of her rocker and is always looking for her cat, takes special notice in Nat. Interacting with the boy, the old woman finds out that he will be eleven years of age on November 11th of 2011, equating to: 11/11/11. Nat does not know what this means, but the rest of the neighborhood seems to be paying special attention to him as well and give him a new book that focuses on all of the events that happened on any day that had eleven on it. Nat’s parents do not think that there is anything wrong with the gift and allow Nat to go on and read it.

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As they get used to their new surroundings, Melissa finds out that she is pregnant and is in danger of having a miscarriage due to all of the stress of the recent move. Being directed to go onto bed rest for the foreseeable future, the Vales’ have to find a nanny to take care of the normal duties around the house, along with Nat. Deciding on a young woman named Denise, Jack and Melissa feel comfortable with Nat being around her and what he will learn. What they do not know is that Denise did everything within her power to make sure she would be taking care of their son, along with preparing him for something much more dangerous.  

11/11/11 follows the Vales’ family as they have changed towns as Jack is taking over for a tenured professor at the university. Not knowing much about the town or what happened in their house a year ago, the family enjoys talking to their neighbors and come to the conclusion that they are all nice people. What they do not know is what their neighbors have planned for their son’s future. Being a group of satanic worshipers, the neighbors seem to be grooming young Nat for what will come next in his development. Only the crazy lady living next store seems to know what is about to happen but is only given a passing thought from Jack and Melissa as strange occurrences start to happen around the house and their new town.

A disturbing look into the inner thoughts of a father as his son is battling his own inner demons. With trouble around every corner it seems, Jack is faced with having to take care of his son, all alone. With his wife bedridden and not knowing who he can trust around the town, Jack has to find a way to make sense of things. Watching as Nat is being taught what is wrong, you can see what the group of neighbors has in store for him, along with why he starts acting out. Jack and Melissa love their son and will do any and everything within their power to protect him from whatever is coming his way, but what they encounter is more than they could possibly imagine. Stay Scared.

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