The Children (2008) User Reviews

A Family Christmas to Remember

[ukkid35 · 7/10 · 29 November 2008]

One of the most effective aspects of this movie is the way the tension builds inexorably. From the moment you see the children there is an impending sense of doom. The children themselves are both brilliantly cast and wonderfully realistic, by which I mean that their behaviour is easily recognisable as the normal behaviour of manipulative and moody kids, until it spills over to the purely demonic.

The rest of the cast who, apart from Stephen Campbell Moore, I didn't recognise, all portrayed characters who were very believable, even if not entirely sympathetic. After all, how can you sympathise with smug middle class parents discussing homeschooling now that they've sold the business? The adults were in fact wonderfully flawed, matched in spades by Casey, who enters the movie as the least sympathetic character: selfish, self absorbed, and distant in the way that only a sixteen year old can be. However, Casey is arguably the real hero.

The script skillfully presents the tip of the iceberg, suggesting and hinting at the unseen part of the characters' lives, never spelling everything out, but crediting the audience with the wit to work some things out for themselves. The horror cliché of characters doing stupid or unrealistic things that annoy the audience was always avoided, as was the use of the dark. Instead the action takes place against a white Christmas backdrop, which sadly reminded me a little of Reny Harlin's 'snow' bound Die Hard 2, but even so the blood on snow motif was very effective.

Tom Shankland's script, and in particular the dialogue, was very convincing, but he is also a highly visual director. According to my girlfriend the Miss Marple he helmed is quite beautifully photographed, and I really liked the atmosphere and visuals in WAZ. The Children also has the same stunning images, which along with the very powerful soundtrack, conjure a mood of foreboding and dread. If you appreciate horror movies with tension and beauty as well as a succession of wince- inducing set pieces, then this is a film for you.

Did you ever hear of contraception?

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 20 March 2012]

The Children is directed by Tom Shankland who adapts the screenplay from a Paul Andrew Williams story. It stars Eva Birthistle, Stephen Campbell, Hannah Tointon, Eva Sayer, William Howes, Rachel Shelley and Jeremy Sheffield. Music is by Stephen Hilton and cinematography by Nanu Segal.

A Christmas holiday at a remote country home turns into a fight for survival when the children suddenly start to turn on the adults.....

Could you kill your own kid? There's a nasty edge to Shankland's little shocker, and we are not just talking about creepy kids offing adults here. Although lifting freely from classic evil-children horrors from the past, The Children manages to remain fresh by playing on the aspect of the parents' refusal to accept that their cherubic offspring could do evil. Even when faced with blatant malevolence, the adults struggle to fight back. I mean, could you drop-kick your own child down the stairs? Added kicker in the writing is that the only character in the set-up who grasps what is going on is the troubled teenager (Tointon excellent), a nice twist for it is so often the case in horror movies that we bemoan dumb teens doing even dumber things.

With the makers unfolding the drama amongst a virginal snowy setting, there's much thought gone into crafting more than just a standard gory shocker. Shankland shows a good sense of mood and pacing, drip-feeding the unease and never getting carried away with the premise. His closeup camera-work has an unsettling quality to it, while the deaths are inventive and mercifully not over done, the editing neatly giving us the viewers the chance to fill in the blanks. Some of the adult actors irritate rather than gain our belief, and the odd "dumb" reaction to a situation rears its ugly head. But mostly this is a thoughtful and spicy Brit horror that's worth seeking out by those after more than your rank and file slasher movie. 7/10

Don't forget your earplugs

[neil-476 · 6/10 · 14 March 2012]

The Children is a British horror film in which two couples and their primary school age children spend a winter break in a deserted location. For reasons which are never explained (but which may have something to do with a virus or the like, judging by the amount of juvenile puking) the children turn murderous by degrees.

I wanted to like this movie. I very much liked the original setting, the relatively fresh idea, and the fact that the unpleasant goings on took place in broad daylight with none of those "made you jump" manufactured moments - there was some genuine suspense, some genuine creepiness, some effective and atmospheric music, and lots of eyecatching blood in the snow.

But the adults were annoying and the kids were underdeveloped - you never got a feeling of character for any of them - and the prodigious amount of high pitched squealing got on my nerves something chronic.

Wonderful Stuff.

[Scunner · 31 March 2009]

Horrid smug Middle class parents get killed by and kill their own children, what could be better? Who could not enjoy this? Well, other than 15 year olds who can't appreciate a horror film with *shock horror* time spent on genuine character development, a decent script and people behaving in a believable manner when confronted and confused by the horror they're confronted with.

The Children is great because it's a rare oasis in the desert of generic (mainly US) horror, these are parents who understandably find it difficult to accept their own children have become killers and are obviously not too enamoured with the idea of killing their own offspring (which explains to certain 15 year old fools why the adults are so easily overcome). There are no generic idiot teens walking into danger for no discernible reason, in fact the one teen Casey (played excellently by Hannah Tointon) is the strongest character in the film.

This is the best Horror film I've seen in quite a while...if it doesn't appeal to teenage horror fans...so much the better.

A parent's worse nightmare...

[Siamois · 7/10 · 9 April 2009]

The premise of this movie is indeed real, primal horror. During the holidays, a family reunion turns into a madness when children become increasingly disturbed, due to what looks like a mysterious illness.

"Creepy kids" have been done a number of times in cinema but what separates this latest entry from many that came before it is the feeling that these kids are still kids. Certainly disturbed and not totally themselves but not entirely evil. Cruel but not zombies, mind controlled or aliens. There is still fear and fragility, which makes them a lot scarier for viewers, especially parents.

Adding to the horror is that when the parents stand up for themselves against the kids, these acts of resistance are "unsatisfying" to us, unlike other movies of the genre. That is, you do remain conflicted as a viewer instead of the typical Hollywood trash. And *that* is what horror is about.

The story is good, well-paced with a suitably tensed escalation of the menace the children represent. The characters coping with this threat (a group of adults and a teenager) are believable instead of walking clichés.

On the downside, the movie has a definite low-budget feel to it. I was surprised that Tom Shankland would direct something like this after his previous work, the polished horror/thriller Waz. A low budget plus a lot of kid actors mean that corners were cut. The film would certainly have benefited from more takes. A lot more takes, in fact. The adult actors are underwhelming and the script could have used another pass or two to make it more compelling from start to end. There are still two or three very memorable sequences in the movie, such as the one following the first body's disappearance. But overall I think Shankland will cringe at a lot of scenes here. For instance, one character spends some great deal of time with a serious injury but the result on camera is completely unbelievable.

So what we are left with is an indie movie with a lot of heart and that does a lot of things well. It is extremely courageous in its treatment. It offers something good and refreshing. And it could have been a masterpiece with slightly more budget. I'm giving this a well-deserved 6.

As a complement to this film and to see the "other side of the coin", I strongly suggest watching Lars E. Jacobson's "Baby Blues" immediately before or after "The Children".

Is this what having kids is like?

[jmbovan-47-160173 · 5/10 · 26 July 2020]

The first 15 minutes set me on edge, the absentminded parenting, the whining annoyance of kids left run amok. Then the supposed weirdness starts. There are so many problematic elements of the adult functioning that watching this movie was difficult simply from these stupid choices, disbelief, and myopic perspectives. The movie does build well with the relentless creepiness of the children, but the mix bag of a movie left me uncertain about my enjoyment of it. Moments of feeling scared countered by frustration with the stupidity of the characters. The adolescent (or college aged) daughter was the only one able to see what was happening and make an choice that was sensible for the crazy situation.

The Real Review

[ChrisMichael81 · 7/10 · 2 April 2009]

Being a Horror Film person I have seen them all and was not expecting much from the trash that is flushed out to us. But I'm pleased to tell you that this movie was a nice surprise. The plot was basic, the characters were believable, and the movie had a nice pace. To most the premise itself seems to have been done before but No it has not the way that this film does it. All is revealed in this film and the cause is actually believable. I would highly recommend this film to anyone that enjoys horror films. The people that got on to give this one a low score obviously know nothing about the genre and need to go rate movies like High school musical or Paul Blart the Mall Cop. Official Chickencow post unaffiliated with any Film Company

Very strong directing ruined by very weak script

[The_Dead_See · 4/10 · 5 December 2009]

After so many good reviews I was pretty psyched to see The Children. Several times I'd seen it put on a par with "Eden Lake", which I thought was one of the most tense, horrifying, well-conceived horrors of recent times.

I must say it started out really promising. It looked like it was paying close attention to building atmosphere and establishing characters - which is a rarity these days. It was quiet and disturbing for the first half hour, not to mention beautifully shot. I was settling in nicely, absorbed into the character's little Christmas get-together, and pleasantly anticipating the start of the horror.

But then it really went off the rails fast. There was a sudden rapid-fire sequence of ill-conceived, unbelievable, almost "Rube-Goldbergian" death and injury scenes, followed by a bunch of hysterical characters who - if they weren't doing something downright stupid and frustrating - were instead doing something that just didn't make any sense.

I spent a good deal of the last half of the film turning to my significant other and saying "I don't get why that character just did that..." The characters motivations for even the simplest actions through the last half of the film seem so weak as to almost be alien. In fact, the evil "possessed" children were acting in a more understandable way than the apparently normal adults.

You can't excuse the way the adults in the film act by simply believing they are operating under extreme circumstances the way you can in movies like "Eden Lake". But you can explain it by shoddy, lazy writing. Most of the movies I've seen in recent weeks had okay screenplays but floundered on bad directing. This was the exact opposite - beautiful directing ruined by a really weak script.

Dangit I'd hoped this would be a good one. Oh well, onto the next...

Eerie, and tension packed. An impressive movie.

[kevin_crighton · 8/10 · 9 December 2008]

Two families gather at a remote house for a Christmas and new year holiday. However, the young children affected by something in the woods, begin to turn on the adults.

I have to say, this movie was a welcome surprise. Written and directed by Tom Shankland (who made WAZ), and based on a story from Paul Andrew Williams (who made the recent horror The Cottage), The Children is a very well made movie.

One of the main reasons I enjoyed it was that it never explains why the children are doing what they are doing. It's suggested there is something in the woods to blame, but it is never fully explained. In a way this is similar to The Ruins, or even Rec and I liked that. Too many movies try to explain what is going on, but the better horror movies leave it open and I think this approach works better, as it does here.

The cast are all pretty good, with special mention given to Eva Sayer as one of the children, and Hannah Tointon as Casey the only teen in the group.

One of the clever things about this movie, and there are many things to like about it,is how the adults react as events get out of control. To begin with they are nice and friendly couples (the two women being sisters), but as the movie progresses, they turn on themselves as they refuse to accept what is happening. Of course by the time they do realise what is going on, it's much too late!

The movie is rated 15 in the UK, and does keep most of the violence off-screen, but it is creepy through-out, and Shankland keeps the tension and unease high, even when nothing has happened yet. And he stages some some impressive scenes, especially the first adult attack, involving a sledge, a trolley, with sharp items on it. It could almost come from a Final Destination movie!

And to top of everything, there is the ending. While not a truly bleak ending (although some may see it that way), it's a very, very creepy ending, and one I really didn't expect.

As horror movies go for this year, this is one of the best I've seen.

Worth seeing.

[parry_na · 6/10 · 24 November 2018]

Twits will insist on breeding, won't they? Back in the 1980s, the adults represented here would have been known as Yuppies, young and upwardly mobile characters who do terribly well in business. This allegedly successful bent is balanced by possessing personalities smug and self-serving coupled with an inability to cope with the challenges of raising their young. I don't wish to enter into the debate of child discipline too strongly, but "We don't smack children here," is the mantra extolled by the adults and possibly this stretches to "we don't discipline children at all." The reason I say this is that most of the youngsters are brattish, and whenever they misbehave, their behaviour is met with an 'understanding' gaze and a "What's the matter, sweetheart?" line of soothing questions. When the children's behaviour deteriorates further and they actually start killing people, the remaining parents are still trying to empathise with them, which leaves this viewer wondering who is more deserving of a slap?

Anyway, with that out of the way, what we have here is a New Year's Eve smug-off celebration where two attractive young families can outwardly hug and adore each other, while privately slate each other for lack of business acumen. The idyllic surroundings are spoiled when the children seem to become possessed and start killing the hapless adults. It is never explained why this happens.

Most brattish of all is sexy teen strop artist Casey (Hannah Tointon), who emerges as the true hero of the piece, having been wrongly accused of all sorts by the idiotic adults. The mix of their stupidity and her precocious, inappropriately flirtatious manner doesn't help anyone, but she displays sense and a stoical attitude whilst all about her are whimpering and floundering.

In many slasher-type films, we find ourselves willing for the death of the alleged 'good guys', but such a (surely) deliberate decision to make the parents this stupid is an interesting expansion of reasons for dislike. And whilst the children never quite become the threat we are supposed to think they are, their looks of angelic distraction works well in a creepy kind of way - as does the revelation of yet more juveniles scattered throughout the unforgiving snow and frosty woodlands.

Where things don't work quite as well is in the kids' physical power. Possibly more time and money would have been needed to successfully make them more formidable and whilst the effects here are good, they rarely quite convince, often making the adults suffering at their hands even more inept. With a heightening of the actual brutality, this would have been more successful. What he have is a well-made thriller with good performances and as such, is worth seeing.

Below average

[jimmyiowa · 4/10 · 14 March 2010]

I'm fairly easy to please with horror movies. I don't ask for artistic perfection, just some passable entertainment. If I laugh instead of flinch, then okay, that's entertainment too. But this movie made me do neither.

First off, it was quite slow. What I suppose was intended to be suspenseful build up was simply 30 minutes of directionless boredom waiting for a plot to become apparent. Then even once the action got started, there was still parts that simply seemed to be time filler.

Several of the violence scenes are pure chaos. Essentially just wild shaking camera movement, with some flashes of objects being knocked over, a few flash frame close-ups of someone's eyeball, or a twirling lawn ornament, and then when the camera shaking stops....someone is hurt or dead. Hmmm, okay.

But the most irritating aspect throughout the entire movie was that the parent's actions and reactions rarely make much sense at all. Like your daughter just clawed someone's face bloody at the dinner table - so then the mothers sit having some calm discussion while the little girl is heard upstairs screaming? Or your 5yo daughter is in a tent with a huge trail of blood leading up to it - so you stop and think a while, then sloooowly tip toe up to the tent and pause and look around before bothering to look in at your daughter? This movie is filled with utterly implausible character reactions to the violence going on around them.

Excellent new horror movie

[Rocket-Pictures · 10/10 · 27 November 2008]

Saw a preview of this. Was worried that it would be a bit cheesy but it had me and my girlfriend on the edge of our seats. Really gripping and uses psychological rather than gore to scare. Very good for a British horror and has a kind of style and gloss that you usually associate with American films. Lead girl (the one from Hollyoaks) is fantastic and very cute and there are good turns from some excellent upcoming British actors. Jeremy Sheffield (the handsome one from Holby City) is excellent I'm surprised he has not been a leading man before. Story pitch is about a couple of middle class families with issues who meet up for Chistmas together. One of the kids seems to have a virus and over the holiday gradually the behaviour of the children starts to change as they become wild and feral and turn on their over anxious parents. For people with kids it's pretty uncomfortable and creepy, but if you've ever got fed up of those overly protective middle class parents who let their kids do whatever they want and can't control them, then this is good fun. I notice it's from the same director as WAZ, which was also a good film so it seems like he knows what he is doing and is one to watch in future.

Creepy and unsettling

[Sandcooler · 7/10 · 19 June 2016]

I wasn't expecting that much from this movie, because it all just seemed very familiar. Evil children turning on their parents who are too dumb to notice anything's wrong until it's too late, there are at least a dozen movies like that. Combine that with an incredibly uninspired title and you get a movie that just sits on my shelf for years.

Unjustly, because as unoriginal and predictable this movie is...it's also really freightening! The scary atmosphere is done really well, and it helps that you don't actually see the children kill for the first two acts. It's all in the power of suggestion, and in the feeling of dread you get from every scene. The child actors are also great, their blank, unemotional stares send shivers down my spine. The plot follows the creepy kid formula beat by beat, but it's not a problem. Just take the obligatory first kill, the one that always looks like it's an accident. That scene is executed perfectly, really unnerving. The movie never really drops the ball from then on.

There's nothing ground-breaking about "The Children", there's not even anything interesting to the plot. It's very much style over substance, but the style is great and that's enough for me to recommend it.

The worst movie I have ever seen

[mistakg · 1/10 · 28 February 2011]

So I'm a big horror junkie and I took a chance on this title (as some people have gone as far as rating it 10/10 on IMDb?????) I always TRUST IMDb so I spent (wasted) some hard-earned cash on hiring this flick. My friends and I had set aside a "scary movie evening" for which we prepared a dinner, and then after turned off all the lights to create a "scary" atmosphere. And then we pressed PLAY...

5 minutes into the film I couldn't help but feel embarrassed for being the one responsible for hiring this DVD: The sound was so bad that none of us could make out what they were saying. Okay, so it's a low-budget production. So we put the volume on 100% and we soldiered on, holding thumbs that it would get better. But it didn't. It just got worse and worse: No storyline, no plot, no intention whatsoever. Just loads of inadequate (and badly acted) crying and moaning. SO IRRITATING!!! It was really just a looped replay of: "Where's the child?" "Lets go find the child", "OK, found the child!" Somebody dies. Nobody cares. Evil child disappears. "Ok, Where's the child?".... and SO IT WENT ON AND ON AND ON IN CIRCLES. With some "horrifying" (pffft!!) close-ups of a germ/virus on a pillow (WTF?). No, seriously guys! What a LOAD OF RUBBISH.

So, I made it my mission to be kind and to make sure that I posted a review of this movie to save any curious body the agony of sitting through it... just for in case YOU might think it would be an evening of good entertainment. Please please don't bother. I could've shot a better movie in my back yard, on a cellphone camera.

Kids Go Wild In The Country

[gary-444 · 12 December 2008]

A worthy British Horror film that delivers, despite a low budget. The twist is the use of children both as the perpetrators, and victims, of killing. Largely a cinematic taboo. Director Tom Shankland ekes the maximum value out of a single setting, and small cast, wringing every ounce out of an interesting idea.

Two related smug middle class couples spend the new year in the English Countryside with their children when something makes "good children go bad". The rustling trees and undergrowth are very reminiscent of the Happening. The malevolent children reprising themes from "The Omen", "The Brood" and "Village of the Damned". Shankland creates some genuinely scary scenes as the children turn on their bewildered parents. But insufficient prior characterisation means that the viewer tends to be more irritated by the adults poor decision making, than be sympathetic to their plight. The gratuitous "blonde in underwear" shot shows that Shankland understands the demands of the genre well! A generally pacey 84 minute story has expired as the film draws to its close, but the final shot is still pretty chilling, is a fitting coda, and offers the opportunity of a sequel. The fact that what has happened is not explained is a bonus, rather than a source of frustration, and the blood and gore, particularly as it is delivered by children, stretches the 15 certification to its limits.

Sufficiently off beat, both in terms of location and content, to satisfy the Horror crowd, and potentially a minor Cult classic.

You brought them into this world. Now ... They will take you out.

[moviewizguy · 7/10 · 13 April 2009]

A relaxing Christmas vacation turns into a terrifying fight for survival as the children begin to turn on their parents. Ooooooh! Scarrry! Well, that's what you might think at first, but you'll suddenly regret saying that when you've watched the film. Seriously. In fact, your expectations for this film will be out of the radar when you find yourself jolting off of your seat, covering your eyes, and screaming profanity for all to hear!

That happened to me. I NEVER curse. Actually, I rarely curse. I've only cursed about five times in my whole short life. To see that I cursed out about ten words under my breath through the film is just AMAZING! This is not because characters are stupid, although some of them are. It's because the movie is basically a taboo. You see kids holding knives, kids killing people, parents killing kids, etc! It's a movie filled with what society taught us not to do!

And don't get me started on the tension. The film has some of the best build-ups in a WHILE. In fact, the very first "attack," we'll call it, is edited so well your heart gets racing a minute before the attacking starts! I must say, that's an incredible feat! And who would've thought kids are creepy? The amount of violence in here is also surprisingly high and I say that as a complement.

For a movie based around killer kids, you must have good, no, great, young actors to take these parts. You shan't be afraid. The kids in here are fantastic. The one that stuck out the most was Raffiella Brooks, an Amy Smart look-a-like, and probably the best acted kid in the group. The older people are also very good here.

Overall, it's a big surprise, of course. Just when you think your expectations are right, they get punched down one by one every minute that you watch this film. The film is genuinely creepy and has some great, nail-biting tension. However, it's ultimately forgettable the second the credits role. Still, it's a nice way to spend 80 minutes of your life.

Boring and uneventful

[saraccan · 4/10 · 19 August 2018]

Just a very boring and uneventful movie. It's one those movies that keeps making you say "seriously?!" every 5 minutes for the ridiculous actions of the characters.

A group of friends and their kids go to a cabin in the woods for christmas holiday but then the kids go crazy for some reason and start killing the adults. It actually sounds promising if weird kids creep you out but its executed terribly.

A Realistic, Tension Filled Horror Thriller With Mild, Yet Effective, Gore.

[meddlecore · 7/10 · 12 December 2016]

Goddamn, is this film ever creepy as f*ck.

Ever thought about killing your kids when they p*ss you off? Well, what if they were trying to murder you, and you had no other choice?

I actually hated this little low budget horror-thriller, from the UK, at first. Because the first half is so saturated with the incessant screaming of pre-pubescent little bastards, that it is beyond annoying.

However, that is done with intention, as to put you on edge (and I'm sure this is much more effective with people who are actual parents...although parents might be endowed with a certain tolerance, from their years of exposure, that I lack).

Either way, by the end, it had completely won me over with it's overt creepiness, realistic gore, and general atmosphere of tension.

It starts off with a couple families of best friends getting together to spend the Christmas holidays together.

Everything starts off relatively banal, until the children contract an illness while playing out in the woods- when things start to take a darker turn.

Tantrums, and what could be attributed to an accidental death...quickly develop into full fledged murder...

What the children lack in stature and strength; they make up for with wit and utter remorselessness.

Leaving what ensues, one of the most realistic, and plausible, sequence of events that you can expect to find in a gory tension filled slasher.

The end is eerily similar to that of Vinyan, which was also released in 2008, and would qualify as being part of the same oeuvre.

Making this, not wholly original, but really quite effective.

Notable, particularly, for it's realism...it is definitely worth a watch!!!

7 out of 10.

Wow that was a waste of time

[joeylynn81 · 1/10 · 24 June 2010]

This movie was drier than the Sahara Desert in the summer. No back story as to how these kids got the killer virus. Don't waste your time on this piece of crap movie and pray they never make a sequel. The plot (if you can call it that)of this movie is about a family who goes to visit their extended family over the holidays and the kids all come down with this "mysterious" virus that turns them into miniature homicidal maniacs. The only one not sick is the teenager who at one point in the movie gets blamed for what is happening with the kids. The ending is confusing as hell. Not only was the plot poor but so was the writing. The only reason I watched this was because I read an article online stating it was one of the most disturbing movies. The only thing disturbing was how bad it was. Thankfully I didn't buy it, I borrowed it from my local library.

Came close to Who Can Kill a Child?

[Fella_shibby · 8/10 · 25 March 2020]

This film was on my radar for a long time. Finally saw this few days back. This falls into the category of 'evil children' n this one came very close to one of my fav 'Who Can Kill a Child?' Tom Shankland's direction is top notch but I dont kno y he never did more films. His WdeltaZ was decent. The film has some very brutal n disturbing attack scenes. In fact, one thing I find very disturbing is any harm shown toward kids n this film has plenty of it that I turned my head away. The whole time I was trying to recollect wher I have seen the hot babe Rachel Shelley. Later aft reading I realised that she has acted in my fav oscar nominated Bollywood film Lagaan. Watch out for the scalp n the eye scene.

Well Done Low Budget Brit Horror

[Theo Robertson · 7/10 · 3 August 2013]

Two middle class families enjoy a Christmas getaway deep in the rural English countryside . One morning the children become truculent then visibly hostile and very soon the adults find themselves fighting for their lives against their own children

This is a low budget British horror film that seems to owe a bit to THE HAPPENING but in many ways is much more superior to the aforementioned film . Where THE CHILDREN works superbly is building up an ever escalating sense of tension as young cherubic children become more and more psychotic leaving the parents with the uncommon dilemma of wanting to live in which case they'll need to violently defend themselves against their offspring or having to politely remonstrate with them in which case the adults will almost certainly get murdered to death

The screenplay doesn't really itself with an explanation on what has made the children turn homicidal and this makes the film much more enigmatic and menacing as we see the story unfold through the eyes of the adults and somewhat typically the BBC decided to show this right bang in the middle of Summer during one of the very rare heatwaves we get in this country and one thinks this is certainly a film that would be very hard hitting it it's viewed in the bleak cold winter with snow on the ground

As good as THE CHILDREN is it's not flawless . Director Tom Shankland does use the stale format of loud noise to constantly scare the audience and has a technical feel of a debut feature . It's also a film you think is produced as a calling card where the production team get a massive budget for a sequel and you can see the ambiguous and gloomy ending a mile away . But that said as a disconcerting horror movie that didn't cost much it's very good at what it does

Boring and Noisy

[KillerRomance · 1/10 · 22 July 2020]

Middle class families (who don't really like one another) and their children go on a New Year's break in a Tudor style holiday home mansion until few of the children caught some sort of virus that turns them into killers.

The plot is there is not one, everyone disappears in this movie, including the Cat who hissed at the infected and never seen again but you see a cat collar hanging in the children's tent. Is there a character I cared for or had a kinship with? Not really, the adults and children annoy me, and all are noisy rouges. I started to get the feeling the feline had a nervous breakdown and ran away so I felt sorry for her; the cat is the only one I cared about. The movie wasn't scary at all because there was no atmospheric nature nor intensity, no build up. The children won't keep their trap shut for being frolic either. I started jumping scene to scene at the juicy parts after half an hour. There was one gory pitchfork scene outside in the snow as adults gawk and don't do anything as children do that high pitched ear piercing screaming and one character who is one of the Fathers walking out in the calm fashion calling out "what is going on over there?" Like his car won't start as everyone cried out bloody murder. The actors never gave better reactions, every scene was unconvincing and unengaging. It was like a TV movie trying to be the Shining and the Omen rolled in one. I could not tolerate the pacing of this movie, the movie makers didn't know where they were going and how the virus started. It just did. It's a pity because Britain can make good movies like 28 days later and Dog Soldiers but this movie was not up to stratch. Didn't like it. Sorry.

Top Notch Horror!!! Finally!!!

[thirdeye55 · 10/10 · 29 March 2009]

You can read the rest of the reviews for the basic synopsis of this movie (plz ignore the person who turned it OFF after only 30min and then called it garbage) -- I have not been more surprised by a movie I was expecting to suck in a long long long time. I started watching this thinking "oh yay another village of the damned!" and was expecting to laugh the entire movie. NOT QUITE!! The slow burning suspense of this movie is flawless as it sloowwwly makes the audience truly begin fearing these kids and are put in a constant anticipated state, wondering with giddy delight (if your a horror freak like me), or possibly biting ur nails to see what they'll do next.

Unlike "The Ring" where the stupid damn kid is supposed to be soooo scary and yet she just a dirty little dead girl -- if that girl came out of the television and sloowly started crawling toward me-- Ide kick her in the face and not think twice! LoL ---- But with "The Children" you actually feel the fear because you 100% totally understand why its hard for the parents to injure or kill their kids... or even simply be able to comprehend WTF IS HAPPENING around them -- Love the use of sound and was very impressed by quite a few of the nice camera angles used to enhance the suspense. The kids acting was spot-on perfect -- a lot of creeping standing around and giving creepy looks. A couple hot women in here as well, all excellent acting to fit the roles.

GO SEE THIS MOVIE.

Yes ! A winner ! British-made, full of suspense and gore ! Wonderful !

[FountainPen · 7/10 · 24 December 2016]

It's easy to score this flick a 7. I'd have gone to 8 or 9 had the ending not disappointed me. There wasn't really an "ending" as such: the surviving grown-ups simply escaped, and the film finished.

Anyway... lots of violence, blood, gore... and damn well-done, too, with plenty of suspense and spine-tingling shocks, but no cheap gimmicks. The yelling, crying, whining, and screaming of the wee ones was irritating, but that's an essential part of the plot. And most parents will know that it's all an innocent part of growing up ~ except it turned out not to be quite as innocuous in this movie, heh heh heh.

The film is very smartly directed: thank goodness we don't have to suffer through scene after scene shot in near-darkness, as is the case with so many low-budget horror movies these days. Also, there was no nasty intrusion by overly-loud or inappropriate music, no lengthy hand-held camera "Blair Witch" imitators.

The director got the balance just right, and the actors fell into their roles very nicely indeed. No AA winners here, but no daft idiots trying to remember their lines and where to go, how to react. Congratulations!

The premise of a bunch of partying youngsters going nuts and trying to knock off all the adults is definitely cool. Some of the kids certainly DO look menacing, even terrifying. Good stuff. I recommend "The Children" very strongly.

Shrill and irritating

[zandalasini · 3/10 · 9 July 2018]

The sounds of children wailing and screaming is tedious and enough to make you want to turn off this film and get yourself sterilised! Acting is good in places but the foley and after dubbing is plain painful, I wanted to invest myself in this film but could not. Dire!