Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The Blackcoat’s Daughter’

Written by Scott Edwards

Waiting for your parents to arrive and pick you up is never a fun thing. Most of the time if they are late, it is due to traffic, or one of them is taking a nap, but they eventually make it. But as minutes turn into hours, you find yourself wondering if something might have happened to them. Today with the great invention of the cell phone, you can find out very quickly, but it is not a fool proof system as of yet as there are still dead spots where a signal can never be found. It can be frightening to let your mind wander, especially when it comes to a loved one who you depend on, so always look towards the lighter side of what might be going down.
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As the school is getting ready to break for winter, Kat is noticing that all of her parent figures are leaving her. It should not be too bad as her parents should be arriving at any time, but they are not picking up their phone to tell her their progress. Being paired up with Rose, who is looking for freedom in the Catholic school to do her own thing over the break, Kat is pretty much on her own. As she notices that she is all alone, there is a friendly voice that is willing to comfort her on the phone and has given her specific instructions of what to do before he arrives.

Wanting to spend the break on her own at the school, Rose has some things to think about since she has missed her period and fears that she is pregnant. In the middle of a date with her boyfriend, Rose breaks it off and decides to take care of the child on her own. Getting back into the school and hearing something in the basement, Rose walks in on Kat who seems to be doing some sort of ritual in front of the furnace. Getting the younger student back to her room, Rose starts to notice that her newly appointed friend seems to be changing for the worse in front of her eyes. Not knowing who or what Kat is talking about most of the time, Rose tries to keep a closer eye on the girl, but it is too late as she sees that Kat is not able to thank the Lord for the meal they are about to eat.

Having to wait overnight for her bus, Joan is freezing in the middle of winter and just needs a helping hand. Seeing the girl struggling, Bill is more than happy to help and offers the stranger a ride to wherever she needs to go. Even though his wife is not happy with the idea of helping the girl, she is overridden by Bill who believes that Kat looks like someone that he used to know, his deceased daughter. Talking to Joan about why he is really helping her, Joan starts to have flashbacks to what happened to her many years ago. Even though she is thankful for the help, Joan would rather be on her own to take care of her personal issues but having warm bodies around her on the anniversary of her life changing is not a bad thing. 

Interesting movie to say the least. I have always said that I am not a fan of telling a story using different timelines, but this one did a pretty good job at it. I really enjoyed the relationship that Rose and Kat developed while being left alone at the school. While Kat attempted to bond with the older girl, she was shut down and forced to look somewhere else for a relationship. Little did either of the girls know what that would do to them in the long run, and there was also the wonder of Kat’s descent into a new world. The only thing that I would have added into the movie is knowing the exact passage of time that had taken place, while it should have only been a couple days, it seemed like months when you finally got to see Rose’s baby bump. With some jump scares, a bloody knife, decapitations, a loving family and a sinister voice on the phone, I was more than happy to wait and see what happened at the end. Stay Scared.

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