Godsend (Universal)

Adam Duncan. Born: December 11, 1987. Died: December 12, 1995. Born September 23, 1996.

Godsend is a thriller that could be seen as a modern interpretation of the Frankenstein theme about a man attempting to play God with terrible consequences.

Paul and Jessie Duncan (Greg Kinnear and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos) are a happily married couple who adore their 8-year-old son, Adam (Cameron Bright), but their life is shattered when Adam is killed in a freak auto accident. As Jessie is no longer able to conceive, Adam was their only hope for a child. Or so they believe.

At Adam’s funeral, they are approached by a brilliant genetic scientist, Dr Richard Wells (Robert De Niro) who has a proposal that is at once shocking – and despite its legal, ethical and moral considerations – impossible for the grieving parents to decline once they overcome their initial resistance. Wells tells them that, with a single cell from Adam’s body, he can clone their son.

As part of the secretive arrangement, Wells asks the Duncans to quit their jobs, leave their home and friends behind and settle in the small town of Riverton, Vermont where his Godsend Fertility Clinic is located.

The procedure is a success and nine months later, Jessie gives birth to a healthy twin Adam who will be physically and emotionally identical to their original son. The early years of the second Adam’s life pass smoothly and without incident, but when he reaches his eighth birthday – the age at which the “prototype” Adam died – things change, the nightmares begin and Adam’s behaviour starts to show some frightening, murderous tendencies...