Le fléau selon Clive Barker

First off, its quite easy to tell that author Clive Barker didn't have a lot to do with this film. There are few of the trademarks that one expects from a Barker tale here. Obviously this was meant solely to be a production that he could get off the ground quickly and without trouble to start off his Midnight Picture Show company.

The story follows a mysterious plague that causes all the children of the world under the age of 9 to fall into a coma. Skip ahead 10 years and the children have begun to awaken. The only problem is they have a strong desire to kill any and all adults.

There are some great twists in here. After 10 years in a coma, one's muscles would be jello, so the authors have given the children seizures twice a day every day to keep the muscles in active condition and allow them to grow and become strong. The first thought one might have is of the standard zombie film scenario: survivors hole up as hordes outside hunt them and kill them. Indeed, there is some truth to this. The difference is that the kids don't want to eat the adults, just kill them and send them into the afterlife. A lot of this is never fully explained much like the reasons for the zombies in Night Of The Living Dead. There are some reasons suggested but no concrete evidence given.

What brought the film down was its ultra low budget. The film looked cheap. The less than stellar acting also caused the film a heavy hit in my opinion. Lots of people have criticized James Van Der Beek for his performance but I'd have to say that the blame lies fully on the entire cast. No one here delivers a decent performance.

All in all, its worth a look, but it will hardly set the world on fire.

This is not a great horror film - but it's not a super stinker either. Here's the deal: - If Texas Chainsaw Massacre is your favorite type of horror, you will not like this one at alllll. The gore and zombie fight scenes are not very impressive.

• If you like more "use your brain" type subtle horror films, this one does make you think. It offers no clear explanation for why or how, but it does offer a few glimmers that make you wonder that the writers/film-makers have some point they are trying to get across. Unfortunately, even if you come to a conclusion here (as a couple of other reviewers have - and I agree with their conclusions), it's doesn't help the fact that the movie is just kinda there through 75% of the film, despite the very interesting initial premise.

Have you ever wondered what you would get if you mixed "Village/Chilren of the Damned", "Night of the living Dead", the episode of "Miri" from "Star Trek", "Invasion of the Body Snathcers" (1978 version)and "Children of the Corn?....Me neither...but thats what you get with "The Plague" only those movies and TV show episode were good....this isn't....The Children of the world who are all under 9 years old fall into a comatose condition as well as any children born for the next 10 years. The ten years pass and now they awake and go on a bloody rampage. The movie began in what I found to be a slow creepy fashion which was OK....but the problem is how it unfolds after that. A majority of characters start appearing with no backup story which the script suggests we are suppose to be familiar with and care about.....Case in point is poor Dee Wallace who is in about three scenes of which take all about 5 minutes in total....She pops outta no where as the local sheriff's wife and the rest left me thinking what was the point.....Others are the two strange teens who walk with the comatose un spooked....A priest....Whose entrance was stolen right out of "The Excorsist Poster AD" you'll see what I mean.....This horror film turns into a schmorgasborg of a script and is not able to hide the fact that it did not introduce us correctly to characters and doesn't even explain a few details that would help the viewer understand some things. One of these is the two strange teens who break into houses to talk to the kids and who walk with them unoticed...Why they do this and there part in it is never explained..again what was the point...The reason behind so called "Plague" is not explained and an attempt by two characters at a so called debate as to the possible reasons behind why this could be happening right before they are attacked, was poorly executed and again pointless. James Van Der Beek is fine as the lead but cant even save this bad flick and looks like he realized mid way that he was in a turkey. The lead actress is not up to par and looks strangely similar at times to "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman's" Louise Lasser...that was scary...about the only thing I found. Again, a good idea with a bad execution which seems to be the norm these days with horror films. I was looking forward to seeing this flick since reading about the plot line and sadly I was disappointed at the actual product. I got the feeling there was a good story trying to find its way to the surface but sank like a ton of bricks at the hands of the people making it. I am surprised Clive Barker didn't go by way of "Alan Smithee" and had his name attached to this film. One good thing...this was a whole lot better than the atrocity known as the remake of "The Fog"...then again in comparison, anything is....Ouch!!

This movie started really well and, as others noticed in their comments, ended rather obscurely. One could say that if you mix Children of the Damned with Night of the Living Dead, you get this movie, which would have made a reasonably scary and interesting film. However, they added a bit of Steinbeck leftism, a bit of obscure clerical writings, probably Catholic only, and crashed into an uninteresting and meaningless ending.

That doesn't mean it wasn't good. The start has that nice feel of Night of the Living Dead (the black and white version, the good one). The characters are presented and developed rather well. However, after a while, they all start dying stupidly and only show that using emotions in time of crisis is plain idiotic. After all, this is the only moral in this movie.

Bottom line: a film with a great potential turns out to be an average movie.

In the not to distant future, every human child under age nine mysteriously falls into a coma. Most of the kids are hospitalized, but a few are cared for at home. Twice a day, they have convulsions (which seems to give their bodies a good workout). "The Plague" extends to newborns, also; all are born comatose. As years pass, no healthy babies are born. Births are discouraged, and abortions are mandatory. The victims remain comatose. With no functioning offspring, the human race is threatened with extinction.

This is a reasonably well set-up, but ultimately pointless, confusing, and unsatisfactory story. It's like "Village of the Damned" and "Night of the Living Dead" were copulated, and gave birth to a script. Then, they tried to film it as "The Grapes of Wrath" with James Van Der Beek (as Tom Russell) taking on the protagonist's role and Ivana Milicevic (as Jean Raynor) wanting to take over. The best thing you can say about the ending is that because it's so bad, any subversive message will go right over your head.

**** The Plague (9/5/06) Hal Masonberg ~ James Van Der Beek, Ivana Milicevic, Brad Hunt, Joshua Close