3 out of 5

Director: William Malone

Nicely stylized and set up, Fair-Haired Child never congeals into something truly satisfying, but has enough moments – and a great creature – to make it a better-than-average entry in the overall disappointing MOH series. The plot description on this site is a pretty accurate description of events: Teen girl is kidnapped for reasons initially unknown by a creepy couple. She meets another teen who is mute and being held in the same basement and together they try to escape and figure out what the creepy references to fair-haired child they find etched on the walls are all about. None of the plots have been revelatory in the series (you can spot the place of all these characters as soon as they appear) but that hasnt been the point, I feel. The point, it seems, is are they entertaining? And to this extent the directors seem to go either for atmosphere or characters. Malone leans toward the former, but shakes the style up enough to keep it from being a one-trick pony. As mentioned, you never quite get caught up in whats going on, but the splashes of violence are well done and the creature is pretty awesome.