Who Can Kill A Child?

1976 ****

I normally wait until the film is over to start writing a review however I've had to pause this film just to write my thoughts and to compose myself. Thus far the opening credits are running and I'm already fully depressed and on the verge of tears from watching propaganda films of dead and maimed children from Auschwitz and other wars. I'm hoping this is just the buildup to the film itself because if this carries on much longer I'm going to have to shut it off and watch a comedy. Wish me luck.

Okay so once the credits were done that was the end of the propaganda film clips. A couple go on holiday to a remote resort island, the wife is very pregnant and in need of some relaxation. She doesn't get it, in fact this is anything but relaxing. Soon after arriving they discover the island has been overrun by crazed children on a murderous rampage.

Think Children of the Corn without the direction of Isaac. These kids don't seem to have any said agenda other than killing adults is fun. When I say fun I do mean fun, everything is a game. In one scene a group of children are laughing and swinging away at a human piñata using a scythe instead of a stick.

Is there anything as formidable as a group of murderous children? We associate children with innocence and when they put children in this context it truly takes us out of our comfort zone. This is not a new concept from the original 1960 Village of the Damned to the Star Trek episode Miri, where the children were killing off the "grups" (adults). The title brings up the real dilemma here, who can kill a child? This is against everything we believe in. So, when it comes down to life or death, could you do it? Could you look a ten year old square in the eye and shoot?