The Children
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The Children
Director: Tom Shankland
Writers: Paul Andrew Williams (story), Tom Shankland
Stars: Eva Birthistle,Hannah Tointon and Jeremy Sheffield
Chloe: "They're like sponges at this age."
Writers: Paul Andrew Williams (story), Tom Shankland
Stars: Eva Birthistle,Hannah Tointon and Jeremy Sheffield
Chloe: "They're like sponges at this age."
Killer kids is nothing new to the horror genre but the wacky central premise is an ever-changing ludicrous thematic that it can be mishandled in a variety of ways, at best it will be considered as darkly humorous. Not in this case though. A clever blending of hysteria and Christmas makes this British horror, one you will not easily forget.
Going on a Christmas break, in a remote isolated house near a forest, cannot be a good idea if you occupy a space on the chessboard of a wicked sub-genre. On a winter's day, the two families sit around the table but the little ones seem to misbehave by weirding it out. Puking green slime and behaving in similar manners amongst them, the knowledgeable adults streamline the fact that children are just easily susceptible to viruses. Likewise, the children absorbed like sponges their parents' petty tendencies, throwing vindictively the bloody ball back at their court.
From that point on it's a balancing act, the filmmaker masterfully with a patient use of pace and frenzied parallel sequences creates chilling tension.
The passive-aggressive innocence of the children, circles around the adults' boat of parenthood and responsibilities, like a hungry white shark. Rising up to the challenge by being closer to the little ones' age, Casey (Hannah Tointon) lives up to the rules of the relentless game by acknowledging the creepiness of the situation they are in. The rebelled, disgruntled teenager transforms into an unorthodox heroine forced by a clear goal, to stay alive.
You can dismiss reality all you want until it hits you in the face with a sledgehammer but in this case, the sledgehammer is in unpracticed hands and it can cause real and permanent damage.
What needs to be discussed though is the element that makes it a must watch film when the antagonists are not actually a physical threat. The second act sidesteps the natural way of things leaving us vulnerable to ruminate the moral dilemma. Can they hurt their own children to save their lives?
Shankland's skillful approach is ruthless but not graphic, symbolically makes the rural home a playground for the demonic wee ones, yellow tents, sharp pencils, a sledge and snowball fights become malevolent opportunities.
The filmmaker wrings the matter at hand by delivering an extraordinary terror about suppressed childhood memories and the insecurities that accompany the fragile nature of parenthood.
Horrorphile
I included this as one of my ten favourite movies of last year. Although it was released in the UK in 2008, it didn't surface in Australia until a screening at Sydney's A Night of Horror film festival in April 2010, and then several months later on DVD.
Cinema Rat
I had no idea this movie existed until i saw it on your Bloody Best. I dare to say that it's this year's hidden gem along with Triangle maybe.Well, perhaps last year's
Horrorphile