The Children (2008)

Don't watch it! It's a trap! First of all the photography is awful! Then there's no subtlety in the direction. Finally, actors play like there's in a soap without the fun of it. Children aren't bad but far as good as children in "Who can kill a child?" So let's watch again the nice and fun film of Narcisco Ibáñez Serrador and let's forget about this awful ripoff!

This could have been a good film but I couldn't get past the first 30 minutes. The sound effects team have clearly just stuck a tape recorder in a Jungle Jim soft play park & recorded screaming kids for 2 hours. Awful, awful noise pollutes the film.

It's easy to score this flick a 7. I'd have gone to 8 or 9 had the ending not disappointed me. There wasn't really an "ending" as such: the surviving grown-ups simply escaped, and the film finished. Anyway... lots of violence, blood, gore... and damn well-done, too, with plenty of suspense and spine-tingling shocks, but no cheap gimmicks. The yelling, crying, whining, and screaming of the wee ones was irritating, but that's an essential part of the plot. And most parents will know that it's all an innocent part of growing up ~ except it turned out not to be quite as innocuous in this movie, heh heh heh. The film is very smartly directed: thank goodness we don't have to suffer through scene after scene shot in near-darkness, as is the case with so many low-budget horror movies these days. Also, there was no nasty intrusion by overly-loud or inappropriate music, no lengthy hand-held camera "Blair Witch" imitators. The director got the balance just right, and the actors fell into their roles very nicely indeed. No AA winners here, but no daft idiots trying to remember their lines and where to go, how to react. Congratulations! The premise of a bunch of partying youngsters going nuts and trying to knock off all the adults is definitely cool. Some of the kids certainly DO look menacing, even terrifying. Good stuff. I recommend "The Children" very strongly.

In the movie, "The Children" 2 very different sisters, blond Elaine and dark-haired Chloe get together for the holidays to ring in the New Year. Elaine, Chloe, and their families are British and this movie was filmed in the UK countryside. It took me a while to understand British slang, though. Elaine, husband Jonah, and 3 children, young daughter Miranda, young son, Paulie, and scowling teen daughter Casey are visiting Chloe and her husband Robby, young son, Nicky and little daughter, Leah for the holiday. Casey is moody, hormonal and in other words, a normal teen. Jonah, her step-dad has grounded her from seeing her friends and Casey mopes around while her siblings and cousins run around like hellions. Paulie is a very solemn boy and he isn't feeling very well. He throws up and cries, much to Casey's annoyance. Elaine helps him. The next day, the other kids, with the exception of Casey are all throwing up and becoming homicidal in their intentions against their parents. The transformation of perfectly normal, rambunctious children into homicidal monsters is chilling. The makeup on the kids is great too! They honestly looked like very sick children! The movie has a slow buildup, the performances are excellent, and the children are very frightening!