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The Kindred

The Kindred

Horror · Science Fiction · 1987

Amanda's deathbed request to her son, John, was for him to destroy all the lab notes etc. from her last experiment. She also blurts out he had a brother. At the funeral John meets Melissa, who claims to be his mother's biggest fan. Together with some of John's friends they go to Amanda's house, but none are prepared for what they find there.

Movie details

The Kindred

“John's got a half brother... half human... half something else!”

1987 Horror · Science Fiction 1h 33m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.1 / 10

Community rating

Amanda's deathbed request to her son, John, was for him to destroy all the lab notes etc. from her last experiment. She also blurts out he had a brother. At the funeral John meets Melissa, who claims to be his mother's biggest fan. Together with some of John's friends they go to Amanda's house, but none are prepared for what they find there.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Kindred?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Stephen Carpenter · Jeffrey Obrow

Written by

John Penney · Joseph Stefano · Jeffrey Obrow · Stephen Carpenter

David Allen Brooks

David Allen Brooks

John Hollins

Rod Steiger

Rod Steiger

Dr. Phillip Lloyd

Amanda Pays

Amanda Pays

Melissa Leftridge

Talia Balsam

Talia Balsam

Sharon Raymond

Kim Hunter

Kim Hunter

Amanda Hollins

Timothy Gibbs

Timothy Gibbs

Hart Phillips

Peter Frechette

Peter Frechette

Brad Baxter

Court is in session

Put The Kindred on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Arthouse Gremlin

“Its refusal to behave is the point.”

The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.

The prosecution The Prestige Tourist

“Oddness is not depth.”

A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.