IN SAYING
EVERYTHING ABOUT A MOVIE?
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IN SAYING EVERYTHING ABOUT A MOVIE? |
| WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? (QUIEN PUEDE MATAR A UN NINO?) (aka: ISLAND OF THE DAMNED) (director/writer: Narciso Ibáñez Serrador; screenwriters: Luis Peñafiel/from a novel by Juan Josí Plans; cinematographer: José Luis Alcaine; editors: Antonio Ramírez de Loaysa/Juan Serra; music: Waldo de los Ríos; cast: Lewis Fiander (Tom), Prunella Ransome (Evelyn), Antonio Iranzo (Father of Crying Girl); Runtime: 112; MPAA Rating: NR; producer: Manuel Salvador; Dark Sky; 1976-Argentina-English and Spanish with English subtitles) |
| "Unapologetic
downbeat horror story."
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz Writer-director Narciso
Ibáñez Serrador ("The House That Screamed")
bases this unapologetic downbeat "Bad Kids" horror story on the premise
that it's unthinkable to kill a child yet that is what has happened
throughout the history of the world (the film opens with a montage from
the recent atrocities against children shown on newsreels). In this
gory revenge film, the children rebel and make war on all adults. It's
based on the novel by Juan Josí Plans
(Serrador claims the novel was
written from his
script). Though influenced
by Night of the Living Dead and Lord of the
Flies, Who Can Kill A Child? is a unique
children's zombie tale of revenge that has a diverting pessimistic
twist. Fluent in Spanish medical biologist
Tom (Lewis
Fiander) and his ditzy pregnant wife Evelyn (Prunella Ransome) have
left their two children home in England to take a holiday off the
southern Spanish coast. When they find the mainland of Benavis too
noisy and crowded because of the festival, the tourists rent a boat to
visit the fictitious serene island
of Almanzora--four hours away and with no telephone connections to the
mainland. They find the town deserted of adults, only groups of
children strangely staring at them and offering them eerie smiles. They
soon discover dead bodies of adults and realize the kiddies aim to kill
them. It's not explained how the children got this way, but Tom guesses
a supernatural mysterious force must have driven them mad and made them
band together. With the zombie-like children on a rampage, it becomes a
question if the couple can escape their fury in their boat. At this
point, the film runs out of ideas and fails to capitalize on the
interesting premise. Instead it just gets into the blood and gore
(probably no more than the usual cheesy horror pic of the day), thereby
filling the screen with schlocky exploitation scenes and letting the
ideas raised never be realized. This version is the
uncensored one and the one to see, as it was released in America in
1976 in a censored form as Island of the Damned. REVIEWED ON 2/26/2010 GRADE: B- Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews" © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ |