Ein Kind zu töten...

While on vacation, a man and his pregnant wife visit an island that the former knows from his past. They arrive to find that the place is not how he remembered. In fact, it appears to be quite deserted aside from several children. It isn't too long before they come across an adult. Pity the kids get to him first, killing him and stringing his body up for use as a human piñata. You see, adults are no longer welcome on this island. At least not if they're still among the living.

For my money, "Who Can Kill a Child?" is a masterpiece of the genre. It makes other killer kid films look like jokes in comparison. Originally seeing it via the "Island of the Damned" cut, it's a very tense and unsettling film with some interesting socio-political subtext as relates to child violence. The likable main characters really struggle here, both physically and morally, in a picture as bleak as they come. It has such an impeccable mood and atmosphere to it. The closest comparison I can make is to that of Werner Herzog's short documentary, "La Soufrière". The isolated, disquieted feel of the island is very predominant.

It's unfortunate that director Serrador faded into the land of television after this film. He clearly had a lot to offer the genre.

This tense, skillfully effectuated shocker spent a good many years lingering in relative obscurity, being largely unattainable outside of "grey market" trading circles. Now, more than three decades after its initial release, WHO CAN KILL A CHILD is finally getting the attention it deserves. The sagaciously conceptualized tale concerns an expecting young couple voyaging to a small island and finding that the adult population has declined considerably, as the resident children have gone inexplicably berserk and killed them off. With pint-size danger lurking at every turn, the couple must be fleet of foot and find a means of escape from the island. Defending themselves against an army of evil youths proves difficult, however, because...."who can kill a child"?

A singular horror film with able performances, first-rate direction, and effective filming locations which kindle a parched and desolate quality, recalling somewhat the unsettling flashback sequences in the closing moments of SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER(1959). This chalk-dusted atmosphere of barren paucity and isolation is unique, and one of the key aspects contributing to the film's success. Genre fans might recognize one of the rancorous rugrats as Marian Salgado of DEMON WITCH CHILD(1976).

Strongly recommended. 7.5/10

Everyone who thinks that the "Children of the Corn"-films or boring stuff like "The Children of Ravensback" are cool horror movies about kids killing adults hasn't seen this movie.

It starts off quite harmless, an American couple on vacation in Spain leaves the mainland to escape the other tourists. They go on a little island. What they (and the viewer) don't know is that the children there have started to kill all adults on the island for no apparent motive.

The story may sound strange and hardly making any sense. Obviously, the German distributors of this gem didn't understand it at all: the German video version got the title "Tödliche Befehle aus dem All", "Deadly orders from space", which is absolute nonsense because there is no science fiction in it! But the motive of the children is only secondary here. The film is a subversion of the thinking standards of people all around the world: Children are always innocent and adults destroy the world. And all this is made with an uncanny and creepy atmosphere that makes this film thoroughly unique. The only other "killer kids" film that is - positively - comparable with "Quien Puede Matar a un Niño" is the fourth and last segment of Jeff Burrs very good anthology horror film "The Offspring" (aka "From a Whisper to a Scream").

Just as Serrador's earlier masterly horror film "La Residencia" (see also my comment on that), this undoubtedly unpleasant film was ahead of its time and will forever stay a unique and unusual horror film.

This remarkable and unusual horror film contains many powerful sequences, but one in particular stands out in my memory: The young husband, who's just beginning to realize that something about this island is very wrong, is attracted to a doorway by the sound of children's delighted laughter. He peeks through a crack in the door and observes a number of happy youngsters, all looking upward and swinging sticks, pinata-fashion, at something suspended from the ceiling. Then his gaze drifts upward, and we in the audience share his profound shock as he sees what the kids are swinging at.

This film hasn't received nearly the public or critical attention it deserves in the U.S. and isn't an easy film to find, except from off-the-beaten-path video companies. It is, however, well worth the patience of any true horror fan. Look for it!

The amazing story deals with a young couple (Lewis Fiander, Prunella Ransome) on Holiday at Mediterranean Spanish coast . They decide go to island of Almanzora . At the beginning the place is abandoned but then some kids spontaneously appear . Later on , there happens several astonishing murders with bloody and gruesome executions . Various suspect children are implicated at creepy killings . Meantime , the couple is besieged and escaping of the wayward children who are originating a frightening massacre .

This is an unrelenting shock-feast laced with touches of denounce especially in its prologue . Chicho Ibañez Serrador's first great success is compelling directed with startling visual content , skill use of images-shock and some zooms . Several sequences are homages to Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963), for example, the image of all the children in the island's village square ready to attack Tom and Evelyn, and the final escape from the island . However , most of the movie was filmed far from the sea as Ciruelos (Toledo) . This frightening movie is plenty of thrills , chills , high body-count and glimmer color in lurid image with phenomenal results . This is a classic horror movie where intrigue , tension , suspense appear threatening and lurking in every room , corridors , interior and exterior from the deserted island . This film along with ¨La Residencia¨ and ¨Sleeping corpses lie¨ result to be the tree essential movies of the Spanish terror cinema . This genuinely mysterious story is well photographed by Jose Luis Alcaine on location of Sitges , Menorca and Ciruelos , Toledo . Creepie and eerie musical score by Waldo De Los Rios .

The film was released simultaneously as "Would You Kill a Child?" and "Death is Child's Play" in the UK. Similarly, American International Pictures released the film as "Trapped!" and "Island of the Damned" simultaneously in the USA . The motion picture was well directed by Chicho Ibañez Serrador and he originally wanted Anthony Hopkins to play Tom . Chicho directed another classic as ¨La Residencia¨ also titled ¨The Boarding School¨ and for TV , ¨Historias para no Dormir¨, being his last film an episode titled ¨Blame¨(2006). Rating : Good, this is one more imaginative terror pictures in which the camera stalks in sinister style and still packs a punch for those who like to be terrorize . It manages to be both eerie and skillfully made , furthermore holds deservedly its cult status . At the time considered the plus ultra of disturbing movie is less disagreeable by nowadays's standards, yet its fundamental power to thrill remains undiminished .