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Studio:E1 Entertainment

Director:Tom Shankland

Cast: Eva Birthistle, Jeremy Sheffield, Rachel Shelley, Hannah Tointon

Running Time:84 minutes

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Reviews

- Utter Blind Terror

'The Children' is a 2008 British Horror film from Vertigo Pictures and stars Eva Birthistle and Stephen Campbell Moore as Elaine and Jonah, the middle class parents of three children- Paulie (William Howes), Leah (Raffiella Brooks)and sixteen year old Casey (Hannah Tointon) . Just before New Year, the family drive to an isolated house in the woods to stay with Elaine's sister (Rachel Shelley) her boyfriend (Jeremy Sheffield) and their two children (Jake Hathaway) (Eva Sayer). At first everything goes fine, but then Paulie gets sick from a strange oozing substance in the snow and things turn even more sinister when the children start acting very strangely and brutal accidents start occurring. Casey suspects something is wrong with the children but the grownups knowing better don't believe her. Too bad, because there is something wrong. Something very wrong with the children. And now the grownups better run for their lives...or fight back.

Whats Good
I must say I was surprised by this little Brit shocker. It is by no means a widely released title (despite being made by the British company that released Twilight) but it is certainly a captivating horror film. From the opening credits right up until the titles the film carries a very strong feeling of dread. The first half of the film concentrates on building up tension. We are introduced to the children and their parents (wonderfully portrayed) and we are given little hints as to what will happen later. The second half of the film is pure utter blind terror and totally nightmarish. About 30 minutes in things suddenly take a drastic and gruesome turn for the worst. The shocks come fast and don't seem to stop right up until the end and the tension in some scenes becomes unbearable. What looks like a nifty Children Of The Damned knock off has taken on a life of its own! The child actors are wonderfully creepy and totally believable. The terror shown by the adult actors is also very convincing. But the credit has to go to Hannah Tointon who manages to play both the heroine and terrified victim very well. She did wonderfully in her role and really did manage to portray what you would expect from her character. I also found myself biting my nails quite often because of the well choreographed tension running throughout. The build up to the killing scenes is particularly creepy.It is generally just a very scary film. The death scenes are quite chaotic and extremely creepy. Gore hounds are also in for a treat as each murder leaves a bucket load of blood. Eyes are gouged, ears ripped off, legs snapped, limbs torn and there one infamous scene where a child is impaled by his head...

Whats Bad
Which leads me on to say... weaker stomached people would be better off giving this one a miss. It is a brutal horror film that isn't scared to shock the audience. Children are killed in the most gruesome ways and some of the kill scenes are extremely violent. I was shocked quite a few times how extreme the scenes were getting. Not that this is a bad thing, but seeing children brutally murdered is quite upsetting, even if they are being portrayed as evil.

Overall
So... would I reccomend this? Yes I most certainly would. But be warned- this is not your average slasher yarn. The shocks come thick and fast and the kills are much more controversial. If you can get past that, then make sure you see this one now...

- shocking and riveting

I wont give a story synopsis others have more than covered that. This is what british directors do best low budget, chilling and original horror. An unsettling premise of children turning against adults with adequate amounts of gore to spare. Eat your heart out Eden Lake this is how it should be done.
Very effective.

- so creepy!

I agree with most of the reviews here, this movie was original and really scary .They totally managed to portray "evil"kids in a realistic way.Very good brit flick, reminded me of Eden Lake too.

- Highly disturbing

Before watching this, I was in the perfect mood for some nice gore. However, whilst watching this, I realised that it is the first horror film I have seen that made me want to turn it off, shriek, and possibly puke. The Children is not that gory, in comparison to the Saw films, or Eden Lake. But what makes you want to scream is that fact that it is children, who are meant to be innocent, are wielding knives and other sharp objects, and are purposefully attempting to murder their older family members. These children are surprisingly well-acted, as are their parents. Although their parents aren't...sadistic like them. As the parents are completely irrational (they believe that the older teenage daughter, who is going through a rebellious stage, is attempting to murder the children), it is not hard for the children to get their own way. As well as the horror, the camera shots are actually beautiful - there is one scene in which the blood is seeping into the snow, which is an inappropriate 'wow'. This film is disturbing, and it will keep you up at night. But it is also a stroke of genius.

- Children who can act!

Menacing, beautifully-plotted British Horror with outstanding performances from all of the children. Having recently watched 'Hush', a bewilderingly well-received mess where the adult performers were sub school play standard, I can't stress enough how impressed I was by these evil little buggers.

What worked particularly well was the film's treatment of its central dilemma: of course adults can defeat children, but can they bring themselves to harm their own offspring, especially when the cunning youngsters turn on the cute-appeal?