¿Quién puede matar a un niño?

It is hard not to be suspicious about where Stephen King might have got his "inspiration" for "Children of the Corn" when you witness the striking plot similarities between his novel/movie and the little-known but notable spanish movie "Quien puede matar a un nino?", which was also based on a novel. The subject of children who become a menace has been treated several times in horror cinema(e.g. Village Of The Damned, The Exorcist) because the idea of seemingly-innocent beings hiding dark and murderous forces within them is especially mind-bending and terrifying. Director Ibanez-Serrador (who later became more famous in Spain for directing TV game shows (!)) tries to make the most of this concept, and, although the final result suffers a bit from poor acting and lack of budget, he is altogether quite successful; He intelligently uses a sunny and placid holiday setup which gives us no clue about the horrors we're about to see, and builds up suspense so the film becomes more and more scary as it advances, reaching really sick heights of dementia towards the end. This is definitely a movie to discover for all Horror-cinema-lovers.

SPOILER: WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? is a relatively unknown but great little film. It contains some pretty heavy subject matter and is genuinely creepy. The film revolves around a man and his wife who go to a small island on vacation. The man had been there when he was young and wanted to experience the place with his wife. The island is a few hours from the mainland and is pretty isolated. The man and his wife get to the island to find it deserted. Eventually they begin running into a few children who all act very strange. Soon they realize that the children have flipped out and are murdering the adult townspeople. The couple is now torn between their disgust at the thought of committing violence against small children, and their own will to survive.

WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? really is a well done film. The acting is good, and the action is tense. The other thing I really liked was the downbeat ending. Altogether a very good film. Definitely Recommended 8.5/10

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 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!

In one of the featurettes on the Dark Sky DVD, director Serrador claims that he should have put the footage about atrocities done to children -- more than seven hard-to-watch opening minutes about concentration camps, children in Vietnam, Korea, Biafra, starved, burned, tortured -- at the end of the movie. Of course he's wrong: It would have spoiled the whole movie, especially after the very last sentence that spins the film in a direction known from a lot of cheap zombie flicks: The script robs itself of its mystery, though it's a minor letdown in an otherwise perfectly crafted, well-shot (by Jose Luis Alecaine, who also worked with Saura, Luna, Faenza, Almodovar, you name it) and relentlessly gripping story that never lets go, until the ultimately bleak and depressing ending -- the only possible conclusion to this unjustly forgotten gem of Spanish 70s genre cinema. If you hate children, this is the film for you; and if you hate adults, too.