FIRST FLINCH

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Last year, a horror film about a child killer with a twist totally disturbed me! Remember that little bitch in “Orphan”? Yeah, she's a child from hell. While watching that movie, I really wanted to strangle that bitch! I wanna slap her to death! But what if there's more? I mean children killing people cutthroat. Not that just ordinary people but murdering their parents too! Imagine that? Oh God! This British horror film called “The Children” is probably one of the scariest horror movies I've seen. I know that these children slasher flicks are already long-familiar but this is my first time to see a film like this. Now' I'm really scared to meet the Children of the Corn too.





FILM SYNOPSIS: Elaine (Eva Birthistle) and Jonah (Stephen Campbell Moore) are heading to the vast country estate of Elaine's sister Chloe (Rachel Shelley) and brother-in-law Robbie (Jeremy Sheffield) to celebrate New Year – and if the sibling rivalries and economic disparities of these two couples are not already sufficient grounds for friction, they also have four young children between them, as well as Elaine's older daughter Casey (Hannah Tointon), an emo rebel seething with teen resentment and determined to test every boundary. A Christmas holiday degenerates into a fight for survival when the children start turning on their parents. At first the children begin demonstrating some irritability or odd behavior, particularly staring off into space. A small series of incidents including the disappearance of the family pet, and a tragic "accident" eventually elevates into deliberately sadistic and homicidal activity on the children's part.






I'm not saying that "The Children" is a deafening screamfeast. This low-budgeted flick just knows how to distress one's feeling. The enigma though is not thoroughly explained and most of the scenes are merely bloody murders crafted by these sick kids. I think it is satisfying for moviegoers who simply dig goriness. There's a paranoia in the movie but it remains a mystery throughout. What generates the sickness of these kids? A virus? A ghost? It's still a puzzle til the end. That's the best thing about the movie coz it keeps us guessing! There's a lot of suspense and jump scares too. It's cringing!




Bloody things naturally get worse and worse. Shankland is able to create a dark chilly atmosphere here setting to present utmost thrills. Shankland does an outstanding job of slowly advancing up the tension, letting the audience realize that something caliginous is happening among the children. Take note: most of the suspense are shot in daytime but that doesn't hinder the creepiness here. The snowy place makes the movie spine-chilling. Shankland has some impressive shots to offer here. On the other hand, the violence is wonderfully executed. “The Children” is well acted too. The kids are really good. They are convincing when they're evil. They're scary when they're holding a sharp object . Hannah Tointon for me has the most compelling performance from the rest. Her portrayal as the teen-emo Casey is remarkable.




I hope one of our local distributors is reading this review. This movie deserves a theatrical release here in our country. I read that “The Children" is not yet released in the US but the UK DVD is already available. I'm highly recommending this one. If you wanna be scared, this is a great treat. Just don't let the kids watch this or the virus may contaminate them or something may haunt them. After seeing this, I'm not also ready to face the kids who are raised in the “Village of the Damned”. I heard this is similar to that film as well but honestly I still wanna slap that bitchy“orphan”!