While Christmas tends to be the default setting for winter horror, 2008’s The Children makes a good argument for terror around the New Year. Many folks would expect leisure and fun after a busy Christmas. However, the chance for relaxation is out of the question in Tom Shankland’s movie. Something terrible has suddenly happened to the kids, and something even worse awaits their parents.
Spending New Year’s Eve with the ‘rents and their relatives is undesirable for most teenagers, but Casey (Hannah Tointon) will have definitely wished for more boring family time after her younger siblings and cousins turn on her and every other grownup nearby. No one past the age of puberty is safe here. As Casey and her closest kin gather at a remote house in the country — a decision that always proves to be as unwise as it is clichéd — The Children steadily reveals its unusual threat.
Spending New Year’s Eve with the ‘rents and their relatives is undesirable for most teenagers, but Casey (Hannah Tointon) will have definitely wished for more boring family time after her younger siblings and cousins turn on her and every other grownup nearby. No one past the age of puberty is safe here. As Casey and her closest kin gather at a remote house in the country — a decision that always proves to be as unwise as it is clichéd — The Children steadily reveals its unusual threat.
- 12/30/2023
- by Paul Lê
- bloody-disgusting.com
(Welcome to Scariest Scene Ever, a column dedicated to the most pulse-pounding moments in horror with your tour guides, horror experts Chris Evangelista and Matt Donato. In this edition, Matt makes a case against pregnancy in "The Children.")
Tom Shankland's kinderhorror meanie "The Children" isn't an actual reason to avoid childbirth. That's a joke. Although, I wouldn't recommend the film to newfound parents exploring the wonders of parenting. What occurs is along the lines of "Who Can Kill a Child?" and its remake "Come Out and Play," or "Children of the Corn," where innocence is a coverup for murderous intent. Doubly dreary around the holidays since a majority of Xmas traditions point towards making youngins happy.
"The Children" ranks high atop the list of anti-holiday horror movies. Instead of spending Christmas and New Year's partying or unwrapping presents, kiddies turn into killers who prey upon adults. Children couldn't be capable of such atrocious crimes,...
Tom Shankland's kinderhorror meanie "The Children" isn't an actual reason to avoid childbirth. That's a joke. Although, I wouldn't recommend the film to newfound parents exploring the wonders of parenting. What occurs is along the lines of "Who Can Kill a Child?" and its remake "Come Out and Play," or "Children of the Corn," where innocence is a coverup for murderous intent. Doubly dreary around the holidays since a majority of Xmas traditions point towards making youngins happy.
"The Children" ranks high atop the list of anti-holiday horror movies. Instead of spending Christmas and New Year's partying or unwrapping presents, kiddies turn into killers who prey upon adults. Children couldn't be capable of such atrocious crimes,...
- 12/22/2022
- by Matt Donato
- Slash Film
Reviewed by Chris Wright, MoreHorror.com
Directed By: Tom Shankland
Written By: Tom Shankland & Paul Andrew Williams
Starring: Hannah Tointon (Casey), Eva Birthistle (Elaine), Stephen Campbell Moore (Jonah) , Eva Sayer (Miranda), William Howes( Paulie), Rachel Shelley (Chloe), Jeremy Sheffield (Robbie), Jake Hathaway (Nicky), Raffiella Brooks (Leah)
Nothing says Christmas horror like spreading Yule tide cheer with some murderous children! I have to admit, there have been a good number of “killer kids” done in horror so I didn’t expect much with this movie seeing as I hadn’t even heard of it until recently. Thankfully, I was proven wrong and loved this movie quite a bit. This British horror film was only given a straight to video release in America despite being given a theatrical release in the UK.
The plot is a small group of family and friends travel to a country home in an isolated snowy region for their Christmas get together.
Directed By: Tom Shankland
Written By: Tom Shankland & Paul Andrew Williams
Starring: Hannah Tointon (Casey), Eva Birthistle (Elaine), Stephen Campbell Moore (Jonah) , Eva Sayer (Miranda), William Howes( Paulie), Rachel Shelley (Chloe), Jeremy Sheffield (Robbie), Jake Hathaway (Nicky), Raffiella Brooks (Leah)
Nothing says Christmas horror like spreading Yule tide cheer with some murderous children! I have to admit, there have been a good number of “killer kids” done in horror so I didn’t expect much with this movie seeing as I hadn’t even heard of it until recently. Thankfully, I was proven wrong and loved this movie quite a bit. This British horror film was only given a straight to video release in America despite being given a theatrical release in the UK.
The plot is a small group of family and friends travel to a country home in an isolated snowy region for their Christmas get together.
- 12/17/2013
- by admin
- MoreHorror
I wanted to hate this movie, I really did; in fact, the first thing I did before I even watched the thing was brainstorm some high-larious jokes regarding the hokey tag line, which solemnly reads, "You brought them into this world...they'll take you out." How pleased I was with myself, chuckling quietly as I armed myself with a veritable battalion of besmirching, scathingly funny material. What a fool I was. All of that haughty posturing quickly slipped away after I got about half an hour into the film and was promptly Drop-kicked In The Face With Nausea-inducing Terror.
We're all familiar with the concept of creepy killer kids. It's done entirely too often (Joshua, The Good Son, Orphan, Children of the Corn, Village of the Damned) and only rarely is it done well (The Bad Seed, The Omen, Pet Sematary). Luckily, The Children manages to hold up amongst the best,...
We're all familiar with the concept of creepy killer kids. It's done entirely too often (Joshua, The Good Son, Orphan, Children of the Corn, Village of the Damned) and only rarely is it done well (The Bad Seed, The Omen, Pet Sematary). Luckily, The Children manages to hold up amongst the best,...
- 10/19/2009
- by Inna Mkrtycheva
- JustPressPlay.net
A small corner of the horror genre is dedicated to the killer child. It.s not exactly fun to think of your pintsized progeny taking up weapons and killing you. However, a virus (H1N1?) causes them to do just that in jolly old England. Don.t worry it.s just a movie. or is it? [Insert scary music here] Elaine (Eva Birthistle) and Jonah (Steven Campbell) are joining Elaine.s sister Chloe (Rachel Shelley) and her husband Robbie (Jeremy Sheffield) at their English country home for a Christmas reunion. It.s also a reunion of all the kids, Leah (Raffiella Brooks), Nicky (Jake Hathaway), Paulie (William Howes), Miranda (Eva Sayer), and cynical teenager Casey (Hannah Tointon), and Christmas looks to be a fun...
- 10/13/2009
- by Jeff Swindoll
- Monsters and Critics
Orphan may be wringing some nasty, campy fun out of its evil-kid scenario in theaters right now, but The Children (screened at this month’s Fantasia film festival in Montreal, and coming on special-edition DVD from Lionsgate in October) is the real thing, a film that evokes true terror from the premise of our own offspring turning against us. In fact, never mind comparisons within its limited subgenre; this British production is one of the most effective fright features in recent years, period.
The setup is both simple and a little hard to sort out at first: Elaine (Eva Birthistle) and Jonah (Stephen Campbell Moore) bring their kids to the isolated country home of her sister Chloe (Rachel Shelley), Chloe’s husband Robbie (Jeremy Sheffield) and *their* kids for a Christmas celebration. For a little while, it’s difficult to keep track of which children belong to which adults, with...
The setup is both simple and a little hard to sort out at first: Elaine (Eva Birthistle) and Jonah (Stephen Campbell Moore) bring their kids to the isolated country home of her sister Chloe (Rachel Shelley), Chloe’s husband Robbie (Jeremy Sheffield) and *their* kids for a Christmas celebration. For a little while, it’s difficult to keep track of which children belong to which adults, with...
- 7/28/2009
- by no-reply@fangoria.com (Michael Gingold)
- Fangoria
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