Who Can Kill a Child? (1976)

A couple of British holidaymakers arrive in a small island off the Spanish coast, only to find the place totally empty of adults and the children acting in a sinister way. We soon find out that the children blew a fuse all of a sudden, and murdered all the grown-ups. Obviously, the little bastards are not going to let the visitors get away and spill the beans. Armed with clubs, knives, scythes and guns, they chase the hysterical pair all over the island, and the conclusion is quite predictable. This little film possesses a beautiful photography and an effective score to deliver the chills, but then there are a number of flaws in the script that weight against the story's credibility: who would want to live on an island too far away from the mainland when there is not a miserable telephone line or a radio to keep the islanders in touch with the rest of the world in the case of an emergency? What kind of a man would drag his heavily pregnant wife on a four-hour trip by boat in the blazing sun to stay for days in a place where there are not any medical facilities? And finally, dozens of bodies are lying all over the village in that sweltering heat, but still they don't decompose and stink but remain fresh and in pristine condition!!Nevertheless, it is a reasonably good horror film with an interesting story about kids from hell, and the children look quite sinister and evil. Nowadays we have seen so many movies about child psychopaths that this film may seem a bit lame to us, but we must think that when it first came out in 1976 it must have been quite shocking to audiences. I have recently seen the Mexican remake made two years ago, and it is virtually a carbon copy of this original almost shot by shot. If you want to remake something, at least try to make it better, use your imagination to improve the camera-work, take some time to revise the script so there will be not plot-holes the size of a bulldozer in it, and definitely get a bunch of kids who really look and act creepy and not like a kindergarten class!

English tourists Tom and Evelyn are traveling in Spain. The town they want to stay in is overcrowded so they decided to go to an island that Tom knows of about 4 hours off the coast. When they get to the island they discover that there are no adults on the island, only children. They soon realize that they are trapped on the island and that the children have killed all the adults. Now they must fight and kill the angry mob of children before they are killed themselves.OK, so I was watching a video on youtube with Eli Roth where he talks about his five favorite films. He mentioned this film on his list and I was intrigued. I had never heard of it before so I started doing a little research. The film was made in 1976 and for a long time was almost impossible to find anywhere. Then in 2007 it was released on DVD by Dark Sky Films.The movie is extremely well done for its time and budget. It was a very risqué film at the time since it dealt with a taboo subject matter, killing children. This is 8 years before Children of the Corn and while I have no proof of it I have a hard time believing Stephen King didn't use this movie as inspiration. Unlike, COTC however, this movie doesn't have any religious undertones.I was pretty blown away by this film. It's truly creepy without being overly gory and it definitely sticks with you for a while afterwards. This is not a film for everyone. There are some scenes in the beginning of film that show documentary footage of children in concentration camps, starving in India, etc. This was done by the director to supposedly explain why the children decided to rise up against the adults but I found it a bit gratuitous and unnecessary.If you are horror fan, or someone who just looking for something different to watch, then I recommend checking this one out.On a side note I saw that they had planned on doing a remake of this film back in 2008. It was going to be called In the Playground and had a Director (David Alcade) and star (Diego Luna) all lined up. I even found a poster for the film. It doesn't look like this film was ever made though, and I can't find any record of it on IMDb.

This movie succeeds at what so many other genre movies attempted but failed at. The movie by all means is just like any other genre entry from the '70's but yet it manages to excel and rise above the normal level of standard that is customary within the genre.It's because the movie gets basically everything right. Or at least its most important genre aspects. What makes the movie foremost work out as an effective one are its children. Over the years lots of horror movies featured children in it, that were supposed to be the movie its most scary and threatening aspects. This however only successfully worked out in just a handful of movies, which is mainly due to the children not always being the greatest actors or just not looking very threatening at all. But the children in this movie are surely threatening ones! You can basically see this movie like a typical '70's zombie flick, with as a difference that the zombies are being replaced by normal looking children this time around.They are really like animals, hunting down and tricking their preys. It's not a very gory movie, like basically none of the Spanish genre movies from around that time really were, especially when compared to the Italian ones but it's being effective in more other horror ways. It often uses a great build up and sets some of the sequences up nicely, in which the children all really come across as dangerous, even though they are all little, cute looking ones.It must had made the movie really controversial at its time, especially since it shows the children doing things you have probably never seen before in any other sort of movie. It can be a quite brutal movie, especially with its opening and ending.The movie opens with real news footage of children who were killed during wars, such as in WW II concentration camps by the Nazi's. Seriously, this is stuff we didn't even get to see in "Nuit et brouillard" and its being quite graphic to look at because you know that what you are watching is all real. I don't think this opening was really necessary to be put in the movie and it seems mainly put in for its shock value. It sorts of set up for the motivation for the children to become cold blood killers in the movie but it's not really something that gets build on or explored further. The movie just doesn't do too much with its story and it actually is all pretty standard stuff when it comes down to its writing.It's also a movie with plenty of slow moments in it. It actually isn't until half way through the movie that things really start to take off, when they finally get to the island and have their fist unusual and dangerous encounter. It's still a movie that does a lot wrong and also had a low budget working against it but in the end none of this really matters, since "¿Quién puede matar a un niño?" is a movie that works out surprisingly well within its genre.By all means, this shouldn't had been a movie that worked out but yet it all did. I think that is the biggest compliment you can give this movie.8/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Who Can Kill a Child? starts in Spain where British couple Tom (Lewis Flander) & his pregnant wife Evelyn (Prunella Ransome) are on holiday, however with a recent spate of dead bodies being found washed up on the beach & the noisy fiesta fireworks every night Evelyn says she wants some peace & quiet. The couple decide to visit a small island named Almanzora that Tom know's, with a small population of about a hundred people & some beautiful scenery the tranquil Spanish island seems ideal. Tom & Evelyn set out by boat & reach Almanzora but are surprised to find the village almost completely deserted, apart from some random children running & playing in the streets there doesn't seem to be any adults or sign of life anywhere. The true horror of what Tom & Evelyn have stumbled upon becomes clear whey they witness a young girl beat an old man to death, they quickly discover that an unknown madness has turned all the children into killers...Also known under the titles Island of the Damned, Island of Death, Death is Child's Play, Trapped & Would You Kill a Child? the original title of this Spanish production was ¿Quién Puede Matar a un Niño? & it was written & directed by Narciso Ibáñez Serrador based on a Spanish novel called El Juego de los Niños by Juan José Plans, with a strong reputation that precedes it I was really looking forward to seeing Who Can Kill a Child? but now having seen it I feel nothing but disappointment. I keep seeing the words 'horror masterpiece' in comments & reviews but I just don't get the love for this, I really don't. At one hour & fifty two minutes long (uncut) it felt like it went on forever & it really dragged ion places, now I wouldn't mind a slow moving film if the story was engaging or interesting enough to maintain my attention & reward my patience but I never felt Who Can Kill a Child? did. The whole issue surrounding the killer children was left deliberately ambiguous which I didn't mind but why didn't the child attack & kill Tom & Evelyn straight away? Surely there is more than one way to get to the peer & the boats? While the basic question posed by the title is a disturbing & makes for a unsettling premise for a film I don't think Tom had to kill any of the children to escape. Also what happens when the children grow up & become adults? Is there like a cut off age? The day you turn eighteen you will be slaughtered but not before? To me the majority of the film felt like endless hots of a Spanish town without anyone there, the basic mystery element of what happened to the adults is there but it can only take the film so far & when that's all the film has in terms of actual plot I struggle to see how it can be called a masterpiece. Things pick up towards the end but once Evelyn's unborn baby in her womb kills her from the inside credibility starts to go out the window. Personally I don't think Who Can Kill a Child? has anything to say, I don't consider it intelligent or deep & for me it is what it is with no hidden message or profound meaning.While I wasn't impressed with the script & story I did like the look of Who Can Kill a Child? with it's nice Spanish locations, the photography is nice & captures the sun drench heat as well as the isolation quite well. It's certainly a handsome looking film. I suspect the only real horror meant here was purely the fact that children were behind what was going on, there's not much attempt to set up any set-pieces or have any big scares apart from the loudest & most annoying phone suddenly ringing at various points. There's not much blood or gore, an old man is hit with his walking cane & then strung up, a few children are shot & hit with wooden beams at the end but otherwise Who Can Kill a Child is pretty restrained. The opening sequence features about five minutes of real life war footage of children getting caught up in the atrocities & the suffering they endure. I'm not sure why it's there really but it's easily the most horrific & disturbing part of the film.Filmed in Spain the soundtrack is split between Tom & Evelyn who speak English & everyone else who speaks Spanish, it does get quite annoying actually. The scenery is nice & it looks different to most horror films out there but I just didn't enjoy the film overall. The acting is alright, apparently director Narciso Ibáñez Serrador wanted Anthony Hopkins to play the lead of Tom.Who Can Kill a Child? is a film that I have actually wanted to track down & see for years having seen all the glowing reviews & thinking it sounded like a great film but having finally watched it I feel nothing but disappointment for what is a good looking & well made film with a few decent moments that suffers from a poor script & a Snail's pace.