Come Out and Play

(2012) ***1/2

Francis and Beth travel to a remote area of Mexico to have one last romantic getaway before their child is born.  Renting a boat and traveling to a secluded island they stumble upon an eerie tropical paradise where packs of gloomy children wander aimlessly with no adults in sight.  Soon after exploring the empty streets and hotel all hell breaks loose.  After witnessing a cute little girl murder an elderly man by dropping a large rock on his head they realize that the children have murdered all the adults on the island and if they do not leave immediately they will be next.  Leaving proves to be more difficult than they thought when it becomes clear that they will have to confront numerous murderous children on their way back to their boat.

Come Out and Play is a remake of Narciso Ibáñez Serrador's 1976 Spanish horror movie 'Who Can Kill a Child?’ a film I have never seen (yet).  The plot is simple yet effective as director Makinov creates a slow build with minimal music in a gorgeous locale.  The children’s behavior is never explained although we do learn that it has been less than 24 hours since the children “changed” and in one revealing scene we see the murderous children touch normal kids who then become murderous themselves.

Although strictly b-movie fare the film raises the moral question, could you kill children even though you know that they are homicidal?  Can we see children as anything more than innocent?  The answer to both, of course, is “yes” and some of you might even find it satisfying to see bratty kids throttled (I was).  Ultimately ‘Come Out and Play’ is a “chase” movie and like Race With the Devil no one is trustworthy and the odds are against our characters.