The Children (2008)

3 / 5 Nov '10
Tagline: You brought them into this world. Now ... They will take you out.
Directed by: Tom Shankland
Written by: Tom Shankland, Paul Andrew Williams
Actors include: Eva Birthistle, Rachel Shelley, Stephen Campbell Moore
Genre: Horror
Length: 84 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
The first half of this movie is so gosh darned painful that I barely made it to the second more exciting half but I'm glad I did. See the first half of the film is two couples with their children (and one teenager) arrive at a cottage for Christmas. The children are continually screaming and making terrible noise, it's enough to give anyone a headache. I mean seriously, 40 minutes of kids banging on toys running all willy nilly while Adults try to talk over top and the teenager pouts...so frigging awful. At least the second half gave us some action as the little children start attacking and killing the adults in gruesome ways. The effects are decent and it does look cool with all that blood out in the snow, credit there. The style is a but frustrating as things happen so fast it's often hard to get what just happened, I mean it's obvious seconds later but at the time it's kind of annoying. Still the revenge and attack scenes are pretty cool, and the teenager becomes a rather likeable warrior. Also who doesn't enjoy watching irritating children go down? Some of the reactions seem a bit silly, would Parents really be that oblivious but I'm not one, so maybe I just don't get that aspect. The story does offer a few twists and turns too that maybe aren't instantly obvious, so definite points for trying there too. Not the greatest new movie ever but it did have some things worthy of mentioning and it's probably worth a viewing for fans of horror.

Availability:  On DVD & Blu-Ray

The Godsend (1980)

3.5 / 5 July '10
Tagline: If Bonnie is a gift from Heaven...For God's sake send her back!
Directed by: Gabrielle Beaumont
Written by: Bernard Taylor, Olaf Pooley
Actors include: Malcolm Stoddard, Syd Hayman, Angela Pleasence
Genre: Horror
Length: 93 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
I've wanted to see this for ages, ever since I read the book as a kid, but it's not exactly the most available film I'm afraid. I finally did get a copy to watch and I'm quite glad because it was a bit of a treat (minus the middle that dragged an awful lot). The story is about a young couple who are currently pregnant who kindly invite in another pregnant stranger. The stranger is very weird and doesn't seem normal in the slightest, soon she's giving birth in their home! When they go to show the beautiful baby girl to the weird woman they find she's vanished! When their own baby doesn't survive they decide to take this baby girl Bonnie and treat her as their own. They have several other kids who seem kind of afraid of Bonnie as she gets older and it becomes obvious why as one by one they end up dead from tragic "accidents". This isn't the sort of horror film that is graphic, the horror is implied and discussed but not really shown. The part that is creepy is the little actress playing Bonnie, and her parent's ignorance...weird! Anyhow it does share a lot in common with other evil child scenarios but still this one is worth a view or two I'd say.

Availability:  Not On DVD yet

The Children (1980) aka The Children Of Ravensback

3 / 5 Feb '10
Tagline: ...thank God they're somebody else's!
Directed by: Max Kalmanowicz
Written by: Carlton J. Albright, Edward Terry
Actors include: Martin Shakar, Gil Rogers, Gale Garnett
Genre: Horror
Length: 93 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
After a busload of singing children (from Ravensback hence the alternate title) go through a puff of smoke (or radiation I believe it was supposed to be) and disappear. When they finally do start to turn up they have black fingernails (which means they are zombies), and when they hug their loved ones (which causes the cheap effect of their skin rotting away) death occurs. Some of the "hugging" is even offscreen...pretty lazy really not to mention that when children aren't on screen barely anything happens. Oh and this amused me, the sound they use when the kids are hugging is actually cats in heat hehe. Everything about this film is uber cheap but somehow it's to the point and easy enough to watch despite several bad actors. This is completely scareless, but maybe a slight bit better put together than some Troma features...same category anyhow. At least we are treated to people shooting children...that's always good for a fun time!

Availability:  On DVD