One minute Kim Basinger's winning an Oscar for LA Confidential, the next she's starring in this below-average supernatural yarn, which seems to be trying to emulate The Omen in its battle for control of a "special" child. Basinger plays a nurse who rears her drug-addicted sister's baby as her own, until the sister turns up with a creepy new husband (Rufus Sewell) and demands the return of the youngster, who's started to manifest all sorts of magical powers. It's not long before Basinger realises that swarms of rats and circling demons may signal something evil, and she teams up with an FBI officer (Jimmy Smits) to track the child down. It's all utter nonsense, but entertaining in a daft sort of way, though Christina Ricci is shamefully wasted in an irrelevent supporting role.

When Maggie's sister Jenna saddles her with an autistic newborn named Cody she touches Maggie's heart and becomes the daughter she has always longed for. But six years later Jenna suddenly re-enters her life and, with her mysterious new husband, Eric Stark, abducts Cody. Despite the fact that Maggie has no legal rights to Cody, FBI agent John Travis takes up her cause when he realizes that Cody shares the same birth date as several other recently murdered children.