Kids. Can't live with them, can't kill them.
When I was a child I decided, very fast, that I never would have my own children. I respect people who want children, but sorry - that's not my cup of tea. I think Ray Bradbury tells it the best, in one of the many brilliant short stories he wrote, the 1953 classic The Playground. Childhood can be hell, for some it's the worst part of life and for me it was a shitstorm from day one. I promised to never let my own children experience that.
It was never about adults being cruel towards kids. It's about something much worse: kids being cruel to other kids. Every child is a little psychopath until the day he or she learns and understands how to deal with other human beings, animals, society in general It takes time, and during that time it's rarely never fun. At least if you analyze it a little bit, wipes away that silly romanticized past. So yes, children are scary. Fucking scary and that's something filmmakers have been aware of for some time.
When I first saw The Children I found it to be a good horror movie. I don't even think I wrote anything about it, or discussed it with friends or on the web. It just disappeared. But after discussing horror films with kids with renowned artis Leif Holmstrand and journalist/producer Jason Meredith a week ago or so I suddenly remembered The Children and I decided to give it a spin again. And wow. Holy fucking wow.
I would say it's THE best movie about killer children ever made.
Seriously.
The story is on the surface very simple: two couples - the women are sisters - are gonna celebrate christmas together in one of the couples fancy, expensive country house. The visitors is struggling with economical problems and there's a sense of jealousy from them and patronizing from the hosts. Something is boiling under every fake smile. But they have to keep it together, because they have to think of the children and the christmas celebration. Soon the kids starts to act strange and a magnificent story unveils. It's not only gore and blood (of which is has plenty), most of the script is based around some wonderful characters, complex human beings - and no one is really happy. When they're forced to defend themselve against the children, their own kids - shit really hits the fan. It's not only about protecting themselves from sharp objects, it's also about protecting their own dignity, their own holy parenthood. Soon everyone shows their darker sides...
I rarely say this, but The Children is a disturbing and scary horror film. It packs a brutal punch when it comes to old-fashioned scares AND gore, plus it has a couple of the best written characters I've seen in a modern horror film. Nothing is black and white here, there's a lot of grey scales - just like life itself. So forget your suspicions that this is just another cheap horror film, it's both a visual treat and rich on emotions and layers.
By the way, I wonder if the filmmakers deliberately choose at least two kills that could have been directly lifted from one (or actually two) films by Argento and one by Fulci? It's probably just a coincidence, but it's always nice to see creative kills the euro cult way. I wonder how Fulci would have ended this movie? Oh, I'm sure we all know what he would have done:
Freeze frame.
Text:
"No one will ever know whether children are monsters or monsters are children"
The End.
A couple of years ago, say 6-7, I would've probably loved this movie. It sounds really well done (I've heard it being discussed on a podcast before as well) and really exciting.
But now, as a father of two kids (5 and 2), I don't think I can handle it. It's true. After becoming a father I simply can't handle certain content in movies, for better and for worse I guess. I had problems with Eden Lake because of this.
I guess there's too much horror involved in my life nowadays without these movies. Just look at the crap the Disney Junior channel is airing, scary as hell.
Posted by: Fredrik L. | February 23, 2013 at 20:12
"I think Ray Bradbury tells it the best, in one of the many brilliant short stories he wrote, the 1953 classic The Playground."
I had no idea Bradbury had written such a short story.....I wonder how many took inspiration from him...?
"Every child is a little psychopath until the day he or she learns and understands how to deal with other human beings, animals, society in general It takes time, and during that time it's rarely never fun."
Yeah....bringing up kids with right set of values is hard and has always been hard.
"I rarely say this, but The Children is a disturbing and scary horror film. It packs a brutal punch when it comes to old-fashioned scares AND gore, plus it has a couple of the best written characters I've seen in a modern horror film. Nothing is black and white here, there's a lot of grey scales - just like life itself. So forget your suspicions that this is just another cheap horror film, it's both a visual treat and rich on emotions and layers."
Sounds very interesting.....grey scales is something I like in film.
I haven´t seen this one so I wonder how it holds up to Children of the Damned (1964), ¿Quién puede matar a un niño?/Who Can Kill a Child? (1976)....?
Great review and thanks.
Posted by: Megatron | February 24, 2013 at 16:37
When I saw this film, my jaded eyes were truly horrified, because it was all just so plausible. This films shows you how it could really, truly all just go horribly wrong. The children standing about in the snow is a chilling scene.
Posted by: Volker Stieber | February 25, 2013 at 21:31