Horrorfest 2013 Presents: Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things (1972, Bob Clark)

Now that is a film title. I saw the trailer for this movie on YouTube and I knew I had to watch this movie. And despite being a low-budget movie with the limitations that such films have it’s a really good movie. One that fits in well with other 70s zombie films, containing that sense of doom and being gory and creepy at the same time. Plus it offers a running commentary on show business that is still relevant today.

Alan is an outlandish and semi sadistic film director who attempts a joke that ends up resulting in a cruel punchline. He drags his film making cast and crew to island full of secrets. Naturally the dead come into play and the film by the end embodies its title. Bob Clark was a master of different film styles and with “Children” he gives us an early look into his horror style before making the classic Black Christmas.

This film differs from that one: “Children” contains bleak humor and is at times funny in a wonderfully awful way. There is a weird sense of atmosphere that I really liked and the ending is well…something. Oh and it happens to be rather creepy and quite eerie, although the island location really helps. I miss these kind of horror movies-B films that had a kind of class and energy to them. Too many horror movies lack that nowadays.