Lost Child

Released Sep 14, 2018

1h 45m

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

TRAILER

for Lost Child: Trailer 1

List

Lost Child: Trailer 1

1:55

View more videos

55%

Tomatometer

11 Reviews

68%

Audience Score

50+ Ratings

Fern, an army veteran, returns home in order to look for her brother, only to discover an abandoned boy lurking in the woods behind her childhood home. After taking in the boy, she searches for clues to his identity, and discovers local folklore about a malevolent life-draining spirt that comes in the form of a child: The Tatterdemalion.

Read More

Read Less

Peacock

Prime Video

Watch Lost Child with a subscription on Prime Video.

Frank Scheck

Hollywood Reporter

Lost Child never becomes as affecting or suspenseful as it should be.

Sep 13, 2018

Full Review

Kevin Crust

Los Angeles Times

The slow-burning thriller walks a fine line, balancing elements of psychological drama and the supernatural, with a surging undercurrent of social commentary that sneaks up on you.

Sep 13, 2018

Full Review

Matthew St. Clair

Cinema Sentries

At the end of the day, Leven Rambin still manages to hold the film together and as previously mentioned, its supernatural elements prove to be intriguing.

Oct 5, 2020

Full Review

Aly Caviness

Midwest Film Journal

A haunting examination of folklore and isolation.

Dec 6, 2019

Full Review

Matthew Roe

Film Threat

Though Lost Child does try to strike at a deeper emotional core through its mishmash of tropes, the over-glossed methodology and cheap resonance make the experience ultimately (and thoroughly) underwhelming.

Rated: 3/10

Oct 15, 2018

Full Review

Frank Swietek

One Guy's Opinion

Tries to have things both ways, raising supernatural overtones while trying to remain grounded in reality, and it doesn't succeed in maintaining the delicate balance that combination requires.

Rated: C-

Sep 18, 2018

Full Review

Read all reviews

Cristian s

Juega la carta de las supersticiones del campo para generar una expectativa de algo espectacular que puede llegar a pasar en el final pero que nunca llega. Drama lento e historia chata y lineal. Predecible.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/22/24

Full Review

Joshua B

Do you like kismet? Cause that's what you're getting here; plus, solid acting and screenplay, and incredible performances from the female and child leads. And there is some really poignant commentary throughout. But it falls victim to a sort of "wild mare" trope, with the typical religious undertones. Complete with innocently overbearing (extremely rational!) nice guy (why oh why does she continue to buck his advances! After sleeping with him, nonetheless!) and lesson-delivering child who, by the end, becomes an obvious prop for conservative grievances (only guns and men can protect you, in the end!). Even as an atheist horror fan, it's a decent watch, but I had to hold my nose the whole time. At the end, I thought: is avoidance of parenthood a sin for women? I still felt the same as I had before about the expectation women face regarding motherhood. I suppose this is what it feels like to be a conservative and watch a feminist film? Idk, this is new to me - a film I like that has undertones I don't like. Take it for what it is.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

09/05/23

Full Review

Aaron S

Utterly dreadful. Never have I seen a story so uninterested in developing any part of itself. I made it *most* of the way.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

05/02/23

Full Review

Kevin H

A movie that had great potential for the superstition of the Ozarks, but leads you to nowhere with out a solid conclusion on what was watched.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

04/02/23

Full Review

ronald h

Evocative of the work of Jeff Nichols or Larry Brown, "Lost Child" is a slow burn southern gothic film about people city dwellers can't imagine: hardscrabble rednecks living in dilapidated shacks and trailers in the Ozarks. On top of that, the film deals with superstitions about demons and monsters in the woods. They may or may not be real, but the behavior of their believers surely is. Levin Rambin is Fern, a soldier who has finished her duty and is returning to her home to find and reconcile with her long-lost brother. While searching for him, she stays at her late father's run-down house in the country. One day, she sees a young boy (Landon Edwards) in the woods. He's scared and withdrawn. She manages to learn his name–Cecil–and she contacts Social Services, who will either return him to his family or place him in foster care. But Mike, the social worker (Jim Parrack), sees a bond between Fern and Cecil, and he talks Fern into keeping him for a few days while he tries to locate the kid's family. Then the weirdness starts. Fern starts to get sick with a cough and insomnia, and her hair starts falling out. She visits a country doctor who, when he realizes that her symptoms began when she took in the boy, hands her a piece of paper. But it's not a prescription. It's a note that says "tatterdemalion." That's a term that denotes a tattered, ragged child. But to the locals of these hills, it means a demon who sucks the life out of the people around him and eventually kills them. I won't explain any further. But we spend the rest of the film wondering if Cecil is indeed a demon, and when we finally get the answer, we can look back at what we have watched, and we understand everything that has come before. Horror fans will be frustrated with this film because all of the horror is implicit. Thriller fans will lose patience with the film's slow, deliberate pace. It took me a while to engage with Fern, because when we first meet her, she's not particularly endearing. The first thing she does when she arrives in town is slam down a bunch of bourbon and hop in the sack with a bartender (who turns out, not coincidentally, to be Mike, the social worker). Fern is not particularly sociable—she holds Mike, Cecil, and everyone else at a distance, emotionally speaking. There's a subplot involving Fern's brother which is irrelevant to the main story, and there are a couple of missteps–scenes that could have been written better, and dialogue that's occasionally a bit cliched. The establishing scenes in the beginning seem a bit hurried. But the film tends to draw you in as the mystery blossoms. As to the performances, Rambin and Parrack are quite dependable, but it's Edwards who holds your attention as the lost child. He's able to convey pain and grief that's far beyond his years. Ramaa Mosley is a filmmaker to watch. She knows how to create atmosphere–and she knows how to tantalize an audience with a mystery that begs to be solved. And it is solved–perhaps not surprisingly, but satisfactorily.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Don't listen to the negative reviews-this is a great movie. Don't read any spoilers or go into it expecting it to fit into any certain genre-just watch it. The trailer does not do it justice either- I'm glad I didn't watch it because it really undersells the movie and based on the trailer I probably would have passed it up. It is well-acted, compelling throughout and in the end kind of haunting.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Ramaa Mosley

Director

Leven Rambin

Fern

Jim Parrack

Mike

Taylor John Smith

Billy

Toni Chritton Johnson

Florine

Kip Duane Collins

Fig

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

58%

22%

Desolation

TRAILER

for Desolation

76%

41%

American Fable

90%

49%

What Still Remains

86%

54%

Nancy

TRAILER

for Nancy

71%

33%

She's Missing

TRAILER

for She's Missing

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Lost Child: Trailer 1

1:55

View more videos

View more photos

Synopsis

Fern, an army veteran, returns home in order to look for her brother, only to discover an abandoned boy lurking in the woods behind her childhood home. After taking in the boy, she searches for clues to his identity, and discovers local folklore about a malevolent life-draining spirt that comes in the form of a child: The Tatterdemalion.

Director: Ramaa Mosley
Producer: David Beal
Screenwriter: Tim Macy, Ramaa Mosley
Distributor: Breaking Glass Pictures
Production Co: Varient, Laundry Films, Green Hummingbird Entertainment
Genre: Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 14, 2018, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 18, 2018
Runtime: 1h 45m

Most Popular at Home Now