DAILY CALL SHEET: JANUARY 11, 2026

The Godsend (1980) The Marlowe family meets a strange pregnant woman in the park and end up inviting her home for dinner. To their horror, she goes into labor. Worse yet, once she gives birth, she disappears, leaving the baby behind. Though Mr. Marlowe has serious reservations, Mrs. Marlowe insists on adopting the child and names her Bonnie. Over the next few years, the Marlowe's four biological children begin to fall victim to a series of unfortunate accidents, with young Bonnie never too far away from the scene of their demise. Mr. Marlowe blames Bonnie, but his wife has become more and more attached to the girl, and won't hear of it. What can Marlowe do to save what's left of his family? For some reason, this one doesn't have too many fans, but I've always enjoyed its atmosphere and '70s aesthetic. Plus, little Bonnie herself is just creepy. It's easy to imagine her enjoying a nice playdate with Damien.

TIL: Okay, so adoption doesn't always turn out so well in the movies; almost never if it's a horror film. In real life, though, while there can be challenges, adoption is most often a profound act of love, mercy, and charity. As a bonus, there's also a theological aspect to adoption in that it mirrors our own adoption by God through the act of baptism. Reflecting on Jesus' adoptive father, St. Joseph, Pope Francis noted, "We should not be afraid to choose the path of adoption, to take the 'risk' of welcoming children … It is a risk, yes: having a child is always a risk, either naturally or by adoption. But it is riskier not to have them. It is riskier to deny fatherhood, or to deny motherhood, be it real or spiritual. But denial, a man or woman who do not develop the sense of fatherhood or motherhood, they are lacking something, something fundamental, something important."

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992) Slimy obstetrician Victor Mott commits suicide after his patient Claire Bartel reports him to the police for sexual abuse, the shock of which causes the doctor's own pregnant wife Peyton to have a miscarriage. Following the birth of Claire's child, the perfect nanny shows up to help out, but of course it's Peyton Mott in disguise. It seems Peyton has nefarious plans to usurp Claire's place as mother and wife in the Bartel household, and she'll dispose of anyone who gets in the way of her manipulations. This is an absolute top tier entry in the 90's "From Hell" genre, and one that is best watched with as large a group of women as possible because they will have opinions and won't be shy to vocalize them as the movie plays out.

TIL: The Church has no official doctrine prohibiting institutional or in-house childcare, and she certainly doesn't mandate that parents maintain a constant physical presence, especially when economic necessities require the parents to be away from home. However, the Catechism is quick to point out that "parents have the first responsibility for the education of their children." As Pope Francis noted in a 2015 General Audience, "[Parents] tend to entrust them more and more to the 'experts', even in the most delicate and personal aspects of their lives, putting themselves alone in a corner; and thus parents today run the risk of excluding themselves from the lives of their children. And this is very grave! … parents should not exclude themselves from their children’s education."