couple | Camera Viscera

When it comes to ‘killer kiddies’, I’d have to say this Spanish film from 1976 is my favorite — far surpassing Village of the Damned and even Children of the Corn. The kids in this film don’t kill because they’re from another planet, and they’re not inspired to kill because some god of harvest told them to — they simply do it because it’s how they ‘play’.

An Englishman and his pregnant wife decide to go holiday before their baby is born, so they head to an exotic Spanish island that they soon find is fairly deserted. In fact, the only inhabitants they do come across are kids, no older than their early teens. Soon, things turn grim as the couple realize the kids possess incredibly cruel and violent tendencies.

What I really love about this movie is, as I mentioned before, that the kids aren’t robotic, silent killers. They laugh and play and run around while killing people. They act like normal children, except incredibly deranged. Also, the title of the film brings up a moral dilemma that seems to be overlooked in all of these ‘killer kiddie’ films: you may think you’re capable of anything if pushed far enough, but when face to face with one, would you be able to kill a child?

Well shot, great score, incredibly tense and filled with jaw-dropping scenes — this is a must see.

There are two genres of horror that really start me up: inbred hillbillies and home invasion. I don’t know what it is, but I can’t get enough of them.

Them (or Ils as it’s called in it’s native country) is a super tense, super scary French home invasion movie from 2006. The pacing is great, aided by the fact that the movie is a concise 74 minutes – trimming all the fat and getting to the action almost immediately and maintaining that agonizing momentum for the rest of the film.

A young teacher meets up with her boyfriend at a new summer home she’s renting in the country. That night, without warning, the couple start being antagonized by a group of outsiders. They struggle to keep the invaders at bay while trying to figure out a way to safety.

The movie, as I said, is a solid 74 minutes of thrilling horror with a great reveal at the end. What I really appreciate is that this film strayed from the New French Extremity movement which was super popular at the time. Not much violence or brutality, which I find refreshing. Some some good old fashioned razor-wire tension which can be far scarier than a bucket of blood.