Killer kids films are a dime a dozen, an under explored genre that always seems to work better is the kids are English, the accent is of course the accent of choice for international villains and other evil doers.
I didn't know much about The Children before going in but what I got was a rousing good time of child carnage and taboo busting.
Family members reunite at a country house for christmas for some quality time. The children are playful, maybe too much so, filling the surroundings with ear piercing screams of laughter while the parents try to have a nice holiday. But early on it's obvious that something is not quite right with one of them, Paulie, played by a creepy looking sumbitch William Howes, stares blankly in to space and is generally in a foul mood. The filmmakers hint at some sort of reason as to why the kids quickly turn from rascally cutie pies to psychotic bastards but fortunately never come out and say it which makes the whole thing more effective.
What makes this film succeed is how director Tom Shankland handles his child stars who are exceptionally creepy without so much as uttering a word. A blank stare from a cute child is very unsettling and what he makes them do is just down right wrong. But what he also does is making the kids get on your nerves at the beginning with their constant screaming so it makes it easier on you to cheer when the blood starts flowing in a very gut punching way, leaving you howling with laughter and guilt for enjoying watching a child get stabbed through the neck on a broken door.
There is a good buildup of tension and Shankland manages to keep things rolling when the fun begins. It's well shot, maybe a bit too hectic editing in parts but overall a very successful crowd pleaser.
If you have the chance to see it with a crowd do so and it is a shame that it's going straight to DVD in the fall, at least see it with a good group of friends or your pregnant girlfriend.
I found this film to be annoying. Screaming kids don't scare me, they just hurt my ears.
I wasn't a fan either. I mean the film looked great, but didn't really deliver anything beyond a slick shallow packaging. Only great scene is when the dinner breaks down into chaos, and that is really before teh kids go full on psycho.
Why the adults didn't simply physically overpower the little shits and lock them in a room until things could be sussed out kept bugging me too.
NOBODY is that stupid, not even over-privileged upper upper middle class white folks.
The script uses movie logic, not real world logic. That's a huge mistake when it comes to "realistisploitation" hehehehe.
There wouldn't be much of a movie if the parents simply told them to be quiet and go to sleep. But there is also the factor that in a real world situation would you be able to kill your child even if it was trying to kill you? I don't think so.
I dunno you see what happens when some of these parents take their kids to Wal-Mart? Sure makes the idea of screaming kids horrifying to me :o
@Swarez, the whole thing was done 1000x better in Narciso Ibáñez Serrador's WHO CAN KILL A CHILD (1976), particularly the "would you be able to kill your child even if it was trying to kill you?" --> a scene in that film is so chilling in its acceptance of this...