Wicked Little Things

If you described any of the scenes; nightmares of children murdering you in your sleep, your infant daughter talking to ghosts, searching for your lost child in an abandoned mine at night, so petrified with fear that you can't move even though the blood from a murder victim is dripping onto you from the floor above – then I'd say you had a horror movie. But some how 'Wicked Little Things' just wasn't scary. I am a horror fan and I loved the location, the plot in principal and I liked the three leading ladies. I didn't want to see them come to harm, I wanted the 'bad guy' to get his just desserts, the rest of the cast are always simply cannon fodder so I was indifferent either way with them and it played out every cliché in the book - even down to the torch battery running out in the pitch dark just as you start to here whispering voices closing in on you.

I would still recommend that you watch it, but unless you are new to horror movies or under 12 years, you will have seen it all before.

This is definitely the biggest surprise of the festival so far and without a doubt the best the festival has had to offer. I went into this film with little to no expectations after learning that the director was responsible for the awful vampire flick The Forsaken. and I left pleasantly surprised. The film stars Lori heuring of In Crowd fame as a young mother whose husband has just passed. She moves into an old family home in the mountains with her two daughters next to a mine that is a gravesite to overworked children back in the day. Unlucky for them the children return with a vengeance killing and eating everyone in their path. The film works on many levels. It's well done, suspenseful, it has spots of good cinematography and capable performances by Compton especially. The atmosphere is spooky yet slightly underwhelming, the score is decent and the makeup effects are gruesome and simplistic. The film keeps up a creepy and unsettling tone and the kids themselves with pale skin, torn up lips and hollow eyes are pretty scary and unrelenting. The film is original and inventive without being to artsy or complicated. I can't see this film making it into a wide release without some trimming and slight fine tuning. But they definitely have a good product on there hands and should pursue some type of theatrical distribution. However the theatre in which i saw it in was horrible. The sound was dreadfully messed up which i felt took away from the film majorly and it stopped in the middle because they couldn't center it on the screen which killed the mood a bit. All in all though it was the most satisfying of horrorfests entries maybe because it had the least expectations but nonetheless was a welcome addition to genre films.

If you are looking for a really scary movie, this is not the case. I am always amazed how some directors/producers thinks cliché + dark locations results in good terror movies when it is not so easy.

The plot of this movie is not too much imaginative (working kids of a mining complex in the 1900's are killed in an explosion and seeks revenge against the descendants of the mine's owner. A windows with her two girls goes to the house near the mine and you know the rest of it).

Dialogues are weak, actors are so so, no fx at all, poor characterization and just a little tension all along the movie, none really scary moment and a dull ending.

If you're looking for a light terror movies for watching in a lazy Wednesday night or with friends just for fun of watching a terror movie with your buddies, this is the right choice.

I really wanted to like this movie. A film with zombie children getting out of a mine to kill people at night really seemed like a great idea for a horror film. Unfortunately, the film was in the bottom 3 of films played at horror fest.

A mother and her two daughters attempt to move on after her husband/father had passed away from an illness that cost their family a lot of money. They have to adapt to their new environment. They end up struggling due to all the surroundings for different reasons.(Crazy Zombie kids go into this category) The film never gives any sentimental attachment for anyone that lives or dies, the film produces no scares or jump worthy moments, the film barely shows the children doing what they're supposed to do...Kill! With a bigger budget and a better cast this film could have hope. Until then, pass on it.

3.5/10 actually.

Great camera work. Great set work. Great acting. The story is every cliché from the hard starting engine, the kooky locals, the 4 teenagers in the car hearing a noise outside, on up. But I think if we are honest with ourselves... it is what we want from a horror movie. The cliché haunted house.... the dark woods.

But the zombie kids... they are about as creepy as a bunch of french mimes. Ignore the fact that they look like school children in their Sunday best and not mine digging zombies, enjoy the atmosphere, watch it in the dark, and it is definitely worthwhile.

But don't look for any originality here. I mean none.