Apr 16 2009
THE CHILDREN
Surprising…
PLOT
Robbie and Elaine head to their friends’ house for the weekend, with their kids in tow. There’s a highly annoying little boy, an equally annoying little girl and Elaine’s older daughter Casey who would rather be anywhere but that house. The friends Jonah and Chloe are fairly normal, telling them about how they’ll now home school their own two kids after selling their business. One of the boys gets sick and everyone pretty much ignores it until the next day when Jonah dies while sledding with the kids. Suddenly the kids are the ones with the power and the adults must find a way to survive.
TRIVIA
Written and directed by Tom Shankland.
THOUGHTS
I thought The Children was pretty damn good, though I do wish they’d given us some kind of explanation about why the kids turned into murderous creatures. There was a whole subplot about abortion, which gives the movie a deeper meaning, especially if you watch it more than once. I thought Robbie was one of the worst characters. He hates his step-daughter and seems way too involved in his own daughter’s life. He calls her his “princess” and basically kicks his wife to the curb in favor of the little girl. I really liked Chloe though and found myself wishing she’d just call up her friends and get the hell out of there as soon as she had the chance. The Children is kind of a thinking person’s horror movie because there are a lot of different layers. It was probably the best horror movie I’ve seen in awhile.
