Blessed Are the Children (I) (2016) User Reviews

Angry Baby Mask Killer!!

[marklehew · 2/10 · 4 October 2018]

Ah, the good old American slasher! Films such as Halloween, Friday the 13th and Scream have scared us and inspired others to pick up the camera and give it a go themselves. The result is hundreds of slasher films that are mostly low to no budget, but nevertheless are passion projects of directors seeking to put on screen their own special vision of what a slasher should be. This film is yet another one of those passion projects.

"Blessed are the Children" is a 2016 horror slasher film written and directed by Chris Moore. Although this project was finished in 2016, it is just now getting wide-release distribution.

The film revolves around three young ladies, one of whom has recently had an abortion. While at the clinic she is freaked out by a guy in an angry baby mask, wearing a red sweatshirt and holding a sign that says, "God Hates You". After she finishes her appointment, she is then stalked by this person and those around around her start dying.

I say that this film is a passion project, because there certainly was next to no money behind it. The film itself is generic in it's quality and the cinematography is rather uninspired. There was an attempt at some blue and red lighting schemes, but honestly it didn't fit with the rest of the film. The pacing of the film was a bit slow and I feel that at 1 hour and 38 minutes, this film was at least 20 minutes too long. The editing didn't help either as there are some weird and abrupt cuts that don't seem to be an artistic choice. One of the ways I know I might appreciate the quality of a film is the sound design. A film with a great sound design can really transport you to the fictional world you're watching. However poor sound design is devastating. This film had some of the worst sound design I've heard this year. I think maybe the sound was just being captured off of the cameras being used, because humming noises, chewing sounds, cars in the background were more than a little distracting.

I also have to point out the writing and the acting. The writing is weak with conversations happening that feel so unnatural that it is painful to watch. The acting is below average and there wasn't a single character I liked and wanted to root for.

That said, the killer was decent, with a creepy and appropriate baby mask, although this is not an original design...they can be found at any Halloween shop. There is some fun gore here...a tongue cut, knife through the mouth, a throat slash and a head smashing, and that might be enough to save this film for some fans of the sub-genre, but sadly, not for me.

I'm also not sure if there are any sociopolitical statements being made here about the evil's of abortion. It didn't seem that it was being preachy at all and the abortion device was just a set piece the writer used to move his story forward.

If you like cheaply made slasher films (many do) then check this film out when it hits VOD on October 23rd. If you need a higher quality cinematic experience then you would do well to skip "Blessed are the Children".

1.5/10 Angry Baby Masks

God Hates You

[nogodnomasters · 1/10 · 1 December 2018]

The story centers on Traci Patterson (Kaley Ball ) who gets pregnant on a rebound lover. There are protesters who are stalking and killing anyone who had an abortion and anyone who knows them.

The film takes place in Mississippi. Protesters are allowed to go up to the door of the clinic and cars in the parking lot in violation of the law. They want people to "feel the pain of the unborn." The kitchen scene of mother and daughter was poorly shot and poor sound quality. The film was low budget with Walmart cereal box product placement. The acting wasn't there.

Guide: F-word. Sex. No nudity, but a lot of showers. No subtitles but plenty of extras I didn't waste any more time on.

What a waste of time!

[song_of_rainbow · 1/10 · 21 October 2020]

Based on what I read here, the person who wrote this was a child, in Catholic school, when coming up with the premise of the movie. Surprise (not even remotely). Lets throw sex for the heck of it, sex just to talk about sex, sex to prove how mature the pals are, and on and on. Some one gets killed in the first half and you wonder "why that person"? Karma, maybe? Hint: there are other characters more likely. I don't really know what happens after all the sex blah, sex blah, etc because I could no longer take this childlish script by someone obviously still in Catholic school, trying to pretend to be wordly. To be honest, I hope they get all hacked, asides from the short one, who the others are trying to convince to have.. Hint again: a word that I have used half a dozen times and they used way more. No doubt this was written by a pre-teen pretending to be a worldy, Millenial.

What a fun surprise.

[Mac34de · 9/10 · 29 October 2018]

This was a pretty enjoyable little film with characters that I found myself enjoying far more than I expected to initially. The lower budget actually gave the film a more personal feel at times which worked in its favor, I think. Overall, it is worth a rent if you are into independent or low-budget slashers. Fun characters, interesting kills, and at times, a killer that was actually pretty creepy. It also avoided being too overtly political in dealing with the topic of abortion. That was a nice change and one I didn't expect when I started watching.

My Review Of "Blessed Are The Children"

[ASouthernHorrorFan · 7/10 · 20 October 2018]

"Blessed Are The Children" combines the classic horror style nicely with the more modern concept, the atmosphere is familiar slasher flare, in an ultra low budget way. The pace and steady straightforward design is methodical, quality work that elevates the relative inexperience of the cast, and financial restraints with production. Kudos to Moore for some impressive directing and obvious eye for storytelling.

The special effects and horror elements are some of the better work I have seen in low budget indie horror. Thought out moments of visceral blood and gore fill the films horror scenes with bold, practical ideas that really shine. Plus the atmosphere and sound effects are reminiscent of such films like "Alice Sweet Alice" and "The Town That Dreaded Sundown".

My only red flag with "Blessed Are The Children" is the religion-esque , biased feel that the subject matter seemed to carry. It dealt with abortion and possibly seemed more prolife, than neutral. It is a controversial topic and even today moods can feel a bit threatening on both sides. Which oddly enough is part of what makes this movie some quality indie horror entertainment.

Haunting and well-made, low budget shocker

[carolinephillips-47427 · 9/10 · 12 March 2017]

Abortion is a pretty hot button issue these days and it's something a lot of people don't want to discuss, so I have to give major props to writer/director Chris Moore for ripping off the Band-Aid and having the guts to tackle it in such a frank way in Blessed Are the Children.

Moore eases us into his disturbing yarn in such an almost calming, every day way that it makes the horrors that unfold later all the more terrifying. We meet Traci, a 20-something who can't seem to get a break. Her drunken ex-fiancé is terrorizing her, her mother is a bit of a bitch who still seems upset that she broke off the wedding, she's madly in love with a sexy med student who doesn't seem interested in anything more than a weekly booty call, and she still doesn't seem sure of what she wants out of life. As if that weren't enough problems for an entire movie, she finds out that she's pregnant and makes the decision to have an abortion.

When she leaves the clinic, she's stalked by masked protesters who show up to the house she shares with best friends, Erin and Mandy, and start leaving strange crying baby dolls outside at all hours of the night, calling her and her friends (in scenes that call to mind the original Black Christmas in their horrifying schizo freakiness), and, ultimately, moving into their attic. Needless to say, things start getting super creepy.

Going in with an open mind, all I asked for was a fun diversion and what I got with Blessed Are the Children was an incredibly memorable and unpredictable scare-fest. I'm sure the basic concept will turn some people off right when they hear the word "abortion", but to tell you the truth, the film never really takes a side on the issue and it's free from the usual preachy junk you'd see in a less clever film.

The best thing about the film are the characters. The dialogue and interplay between the three leads is realistic, sassy, and so much fun that I could have gladly continued watching them go about their day to day lives with no horror involved at all. As Traci, Kaley Ball hits just the right notes of sarcasm and sadness. She's able to say so much with just one look. It's wonderfully subtle work. As Traci's loyal best friends, Erin and Mandy, actresses Arian Thigpen and Keni Bounds offer a ton of support. Thigpen is a charming hoot as Erin, the 26 year old virgin, and gets a ton of mileage out of her character's super awkward persona. As Mandy, Bounds is warm and motherly with a whole lot of delightful sass. It's also interesting to note that Mandy is an out and proud lesbian and, yet, Bounds and Moore treat her like an every day person with zero clichés. I thought that was pretty neat and I'm sure GLBT film fans will like that.

The film is a bit of slow burn, but when the creepiness really starts about 30 minutes in, it's REALLY creepy. There are a lot of homages to films such as Halloween, (just look at all those shots of a victim in the foreground with one of the killers out of focus, lurking in the shadows behind them), Psycho (the focus on characters and one terrifying shower scene), Alice Sweet Alice (the atmosphere, mood, and the killers' get ups), and Black Christmas (the killer's phone calls/young women with personalities being terrorized by a killer in their attic), but it's never goes into rip-off territory. In fact, most of the film is pretty unpredictable and you get the sense that anybody can die at moment. The final shot of the film is genuinely bone-chilling as well.

Suspenseful, well-acted, and spooky, Blessed Are the Children proves that Chris Moore might be on his way to join the pantheon of socially conscious horror auteurs like George A. Romero, Wes Craven, David Cronenberg, and, most recently, Jordan Peele ("Get Out"). It's a must see for all serious horror fans!

Suspenseful Indie Slasher

[troma_freek · 7/10 · 23 April 2019]

Traci, a young troubled woman lives in Mississippi with her two best friends, she's being terrorized by her drunken ex-boyfriend, has issues with her mother and has fallen in love with a med student who does not return her affection beyond casual hook-ups. When she finds out that she is pregnant she makes the difficult decision to have an abortion. Upon leaving the abortion clinic she starts being stalked by a masked killer. Blessed Are the Children is a well crafted low budget slasher that gets the 80's look and feel right while tackling a sensitive subject like abortion with an open mind and open heart.

Solid Regional Slasher With Heart

[marcusgrant-86630 · 8/10 · 14 September 2018]

Blessed Are the Children is one of those movies that really sneaks up on you and stays in your head long after the credits have rolled. You don't think much about it as you're watching it, but you might find yourself shivering as you recall bits of it for the next few weeks.

Blessed Are the Children follows a trio of women who are stalked and terrorized by anti-abortion religious zealots after one of them gets an abortion. It's a simple story, but it's told with such heart and attention to character that it wins you over despite a few pacing issues and low-budget quirks.

The cast is pretty terrific and I'm sure everyone will have a favorite character (the friends I watched it with did). I wish more horror filmmakers would realize how important great characters are to a horror film. You really do root for these women when they're put in jeopardy and I know I was surprised by who does and doesn't make it out alive.

Which brings me to another strength of the film - unpredictability. It's been a long time since I've seen a movie where all my expectations were thrown out the window one by one as the film went on. You think this character will be the killer? WRONG! You think this character will survive? HELL NO! They're not really going to do that are they? YES! I find this very exciting in a horror film, so I must give it props for that.

As with most low-budget films, this one has its drawbacks. There are a few audio issues here and there and I think it could have been trimmed by maybe a few minutes, but these things didn't bother me too much.

Despite any tiny issues, Blessed Are the Children is a strong, creepy addition to the slasher subgenre and I definitely recommend it.

Somewhat problematic yet rather enjoyable genre effort

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 6/10 · 3 June 2020]

After a disastrous breakup with her fiancee, a young woman trying to move on with her life finds her dating life and other personnel problems are interrupted by learning she's pregnant, and after having an abortion finds her and her friends followed by religious protestors hoping to purify their souls.

This was a pretty underwhelming if still enjoyable effort. Among the film's biggest issues is the low-budget nature that creeps up throughout here in the form of obvious indie mistakes. That there's plenty of scenes here focusing on glaring and obvious technical mistakes entered mostly around a conversation in the ice-cream parlor that's hilariously overdubbed with barely anything matching up to their lip=movements or reactions which becomes distracting as it carries on. Some of the other scenes, from the lighting on the various killer lurking in the background which is completely out-of-touch to the flimsy props used for the gore scenes, look completely fake and obvious. As well, there's a decidedly noticeable and obvious misstep with film in how it treats the faceless killers. They have no real motive or backstory here to garget this group specifically since there's nothing about how they fall in line with this rationale of thinking if the entire purpose is o help ease the burden of perceived sinners. Not only that, but there's also no excuse for them borrowing tactics and tricks from numerous other films in the past trying to make it seem like homages instead of logical tactics employed for this fictional war they're enacting and their general sloppiness committing these crimes with no one noticing anything or that they've gone missing is all highly unlikely. The last flaw here is the terrible and off-putting pace that drags this out way too long for its good. That manages to come about through several matters, such as overlong conversations and even some of the stalking scenes on display to go overboard with having too much going on. Other scenes come off as unnecessary and come off as even more obvious padding to stretch it out. These are what hold this one down while there are some rather enjoyable elements here which is pretty easy to figure out. The film manages to get its best work out of the traditional stalking done by the killers, wearing some chilling infant-like masks that have quite an impression beyond their propensity to sneak out of the shadows with their victims unknowing. The main stalking setpiece comes about in the final half where a series of scenes intertwined throughout the girls' house manages to offer up both kinds of slasher fun where there's both unaware ambushes and prolonged stalking and chasing which gets fun and chilling in equal measures. Armed alongside the bloody kills, it has enough to like here to lift this one up somewhat over the negatives.

Rated Unrated/R: Extreme Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.

I Haven't Been Able To Get This Out of My Head

[molemandavid · 9/10 · 5 July 2017]

I saw Blessed Are the Children at a local film festival a little while back and followed the film's page on Facebook soon after. A post a few weeks ago got me thinking about the film all over again and how much I enjoyed it. I guess it haunted me more than I realized.

Blessed tells the story of a young woman who's having an awful year, made even worse when she realizes she's pregnant. She decides she doesn't want to keep the baby, goes in for the abortion, and then finds herself stalked by creepy anti-abortion protesters in baby masks.

This could have been a run-of-the-mill slasher, but there's enough talent in front of and behind the camera to give it a certain gravitas most films of this type simply don't have. It's definitely low-budget (apparently shot for $1,000?), but it certainly doesn't feel amateur. For instance, the three female leads are perhaps some of the best written and acted horror film characters I've seen in a while. They're realistic, smart, funny, and wonderfully flawed as well. You can tell the creative team really loved these women.

Some might find the film a bit slow, but I was never bored. There's not any bloodshed until about 30-40 minutes into the film, but after that point, it rarely slows down again. I went in thinking that I'd know who'd live and who'd die, but by the last act, it really became a free for all and I found myself wonderfully surprised and thrown off guard on several occasions. The final shot is especially haunting and gasp-inducing.

As of now, this movie is, I guess, just playing festivals, but if it comes to one near you, check it out. I'm hoping it's released on DVD soon. It's one that'll stick with you.

Suspenseful Southern Slasher

[GaryKurt101 · 8/10 · 28 October 2018]

My friends said I should check this one out and I have to be honest - I didn't know what to expect. The concept sounded potentially interesting, but the trailers didn't do too much for me. I'm grateful that I did, because Blessed Are the Children might be one of the more interesting low/no-budget slashers I've seen in at least a decade.

Granted, this won't be everyone's cup of tea, but there's a lot more to unpack here than most straight to video slasher flicks and I admire the filmmakers for trying something new and going to places most films wouldn't.

Let's start with the characters - they're terrific. It's been a long time since I've seen three leads this well developed and defined. There's Traci - the mopey one whose father just died right before her wedding to an abusive person named Ben who, apparently, threw her pets at a wall while drunk. Eager to get back into the dating scene, she's become a friend with benefits for John, a self-absorbed med student, who might just as bad as Ben. She then finds out that she's pregnant (by who, it's never said) and she decides to get an abortion. In her corner are friends Mandy - a sassy lesbian hairdresser and Erin - a shy, awkward virgin.

After Traci's abortion, she starts noticing creepy baby-masked people stalking her and her friends and the body count starts adding up. A lot of these murder scenes are staged with a god degree of panache and even a fair amount of suspense (something a lot of low budget filmmakers forget about). Some gore effects are better than others, but there should be enough to please the gore hounds among us. Thankfully, the kill order is super surprising and hard to expect. I did gasp a few times when some of my favorite characters were taken out abruptly. It certainly never feels safe and I love that.

As for the flaws...well, there are a few. I think it could have shaved a few minutes off here and there. There's a character from Traci's past who shows up and we're treated to an overlong scene in a restroom where we start to discover that this woman is lying about what a happy life she has as a young mother. The writing isn't bad and it could be argued that this scene helps inform Traci's choice to get the abortion, but it feels like it belongs in a different movie, especially thanks to an incredibly over the top performance by the girl playing Traci's friend. There's also a really bad instance of dubbing/ADR that feels like a weird Italian horror movie as well as several weird sound issues throughout. That stuff doesn't bother me as much as some people, because I could always understand everyone fine even if it wasn't always the cleanest or best sound.

Flaws aside, Blessed Are the Children has its heart in the right place and it's super entertaining and memorable addition to the slasher subgenre.

Classic modern original horror movie!

[shagee7977 · 10/10 · 27 September 2018]

Director Chris Moore presents Blessed are the Children. There has been a trend in the last few months of horror movies paying homage to the 80's. Blessed are the Children goes one step further and actually looks like the great SOV (shot on video) movies of the 80's. This movie is obviously low budget but every penny was spent wisely. A very well written script really delivers well with a talent cast.

Traci Patterson (Kaley Ball) is the lead in this Slasher flick the deal with abortion. She is a a young lady in her early 20's and has her plate full with drama. Here we go, her dad just died, she broke up with an abusive boyfriend (Jordan Boyd) pretty much at the alter, the man she really loves who is going to be a doctor really doesn't want to commit. Now the topper she discovers she is pregnant. Not ready to deal with the unwanted pregnancy she opts for an abortion. She is first confronted by the baby masked adults when she leaves the clinic but not seriously concerned! Her 2 friends ( Arian Thigpen and Keni Bounds) are there to comfort her. After a chain events of things that go bump in the night, voices, baby masked adults lurking and creepy toy dolls popping up. Then things start getting bloody and don't stop! Are these things really happening or is this the guilt of early termination of her baby? Wow this movie could of been a controversial movie. It touches on a sensitive topic and the movie is about the dealings of abortion. But the movie is not preachy and does not take sides. It is the core of the movie but the Director/writer wrote a great script. What really got my attention is this is not a let's guess who is in the mask and kill everyone in site. This movie is not color by numbers and predictable at all. Just when you think you know what is going on it takes a complete turn around. I love how nothing is predictable and the movie builds up to the much wanted Slasher part of the movie. There is good ole fashion blood, prosthetics, shower scenes...all there. Buckets of blood so gore hounds will be happy! The lead characters two friends (Arien Thigpen and Keni Bounds)steal the movie. I could of just listen to the both of them the whole movie. They had great dialogue and witty humor. They had silly goofy moments but they were fun and made you laugh, was not insulting or made them stupid non caring cardboard run of the mill characters. All the characters roles were well written then performed by great actors. This is a cast you will be seeing more of. Chris Moore you impressed me with your film techniques and look forward to see what's next. Highly recommend a fun good ole Fashion Slasher movie! The end will leave you sleepless for days!

Kaley Ball, Keni Bounds, and Arian Thigpen star in a Chris Moore (Perversion, Triggered) film, premiering ON DEMAND AND DVD OCTOBER 23.