Who Can Kill a Child? is one of the coolest discoveries Ive ever made. Its a cult classic, but not so much of a cult classic that its really a cult classic in name only. At the book shop I work we used to have a cult classics display. This display featured such underground titles as 1984 by George Orwell, and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. If we sold DVDs, Im sure wed have featured Fight Club (we had the book on there) or Pulp Fiction. But we would not have featured Who Can Kill a Child? There would have been a solitary copy of it, tucked away on a dusty shelf, and the only way you could have discovered it was by pure chance. Although to be honest, thats a much more pleasurable way to encounter art.
As for me, I found Who Can Kill a Child? on a very legal website, one of those websites defined by its absolute, unquestionable legality. It is not a movie I would have watched had it not been free on this website (as, curiously, were all the other myriad films and TV shows featured on there). Obviously, something is much more disposable if you havent made a financial investment in it, and I was contemplating giving up on Who Can Kill a Child? until about half an hour into the film.
It starts with a long-ish, gratuitous sequence of real life footage of children who have had their lives ruined by war. Theres footage from the Holocaust, theres the famous naked girl fleeing napalm in Vietnam, theres malnourished, skeletal children from the Nigerian Civil War, bug-eyed, bellies distended. Its horrible, and unnecessary to make the obvious point that, yes, children are the innocent victims of adult conflict. Once youve got through that and the actual movie has begun, a middle class English couple, on holiday before the birth of their third child, amble through the bustling Spanish town of Benavis. They decide its too busy for them, and decamp to the isolated island of Almanzora, hoping it will be quieter. It certainly is that, but have you ever noticed that you have to be rather careful what you wish for in horror films?
What I particularly liked about Who Can Kill a Child? is the specific way it draws horror from children. The extended horror film universe is densely populated with spooky youths, but I dont remember ever seeing a movie where the children took such a, well, childlike pleasure in being evil. Im determined not to spoil anything significant from this film, but hopefully you wont be furious if I note that theres a scene where a child kills an adult. Said scene features a girl, around 9 to 12 years old, battering an old man to death with a walking stick while giggling as if she was playing the most delightful game. It is a striking, troubling moment. It makes the opening sequence of real life horrors seem all the more pompous and irrelevant.
This isnt a film in which children kill adults for revenge. This is a film in which children kill adults for no good reason. They go mad (and once theyve gone mad, gain the ability to hypnotise other kids into joining them), and decide that maiming people would make for tremendous hijinks. For me, that sort of violent ordinariness is much more terrifying than the demonic children you find in other movies. Its more plausible, and rooted in the way children actually behave day to day. Theyre just significantly more bloodthirsty than they usually are.
I am very fond of pontificating about how irritating children are. Im not a fan. Yet I actually have a lot of respect for the killer children of Who Can Kill a Child? Their quiet malevolence and hyena mentality make them formidable, brilliant villains. They dont behave like absolute fucking idiots, like real children do. Theyre not selfish or whiny. Theyre a formidable team. They go about the job of slaughtering their parents with a minimum of fuss, while still doing so in a way that seems appropriate for a bunch of 10-year-olds.
Their menace is only enhanced by the fact that you dont actually witness much of the violence in this film; its all done off camera. Even when the girl murders the old man, we dont witness any stick on skin action. Instead, we get a close up of her delighted face, and hear the thwacks of impact. Theres another great moment where a child tricks her father by approaching him in floods of tears, and then when they disappear round a corner together we hear a blood curdling scream from him. Its properly frightening. There are times when the film could have been even more frightening had it been more willing to show acts of violence, but on the whole its approach works well. The best horror is always in the unseen, dont you think? Really lets the mind wander.
As much as the supporting cast of kids are all excellent, Who Can Kill a Child? could still have been a bit silly had it not been for excellent performances from its lead actors, Lewis Flander and Prunella Ransome. They both radiate decency. Their performances are natural and understated, and they come off as a likeable, young-ish couple in a horrifying situation.
I understand that director Narciso Ibanez Serrador was impressed by Ransome but wasnt such a fan of Flander. I dont know if that refers to his performance, or whether they didnt get along, but either way its a shame because Flander particularly is so good in this. He has this quiet steel and authority about him, which compliments his urbane demeanour. Hes like a very cool liberal 70s Dad. Id imagine if you were his child (and werent brainwashed into murdering him), youd feel like hed be relaxed about you smoking marijuana, but then when he found out hed actually be quite cross. But he wouldnt lose his temper, hed just tell you he was disappointed. Does this analogy make sense outside of my head? Perhaps not.
Anyway, the point is, Flander is great, and Ransome is great, and Who Can Kill a Child? is great. Even the ending is killer; a lot of otherwise good scary movies have not-so-good endings, because a lot of the joy and horror in horror comes from not knowing what the fuck is going on. The dizzying feeling of there being limitless, dreadful possibilities is weirdly addictive. So when the mystery gets resolved, even if the resolution is pretty frightening, it seems underwhelming. But (again, no spoilers) Who Can Kill a Child? ends on such an ominous note, with a particularly exquisite final line, that youll be feeling uneasy long after the credits roll.
My knowledge of Spanish horror films from the 1970s is sub par. Its not like my knowledge of Portuguese horror films from the 1970s, a subject in which I am widely recognised as the worlds leading expert. Who Can Kill a Child? was such a magnetic watch, however, that I now want to do a deep dive into, at the very least, Narciso Ibanez Serradors work. Wikipedia suggests he helmed another horror movie in the late 1960s called The House That Screams, and also directed an anthology TV series which I suspect sadly hasnt been translated into English.
Once all this social distancing is over I cant wait to drop his name into casual conversation with pals, and then be all like oh youve never seen any of Serradors masterpieces? Oh you really must, oh hes so wonderful, I have wonderful taste, please respect me. Even if you dont plan on doing the same though, I still recommend Who Can Kill a Child?Ive never seen anything quite like it, and it is so worth investing a couple of hours of your time in.
Featured Image Credit
Read this article:
Kids Slay The Darndest Things | Spanish Cult Film Who Can Kill A Child? - HeadStuff.org
- The 30 best classic horror movies of all time - Entertainment Weekly News - March 16th, 2024
- The 23rd Spring, Is Jeepers Creepers Coming Back To Michigan? - 102.5/104.9 The Block - March 16th, 2024
- Winnie The Pooh Horror Movie Dominates The Razzie Awards - 106.3 The Groove - March 16th, 2024
- This Underrated Blumhouse Horror Movie Is Unlike Any Other Creature Feature - Collider - March 16th, 2024
- 13 Horror Movies Where Everyone Dies by the End - MovieWeb - March 8th, 2024
- Willy Wonka Experience Villain The Unknown Gets Its Own Horror Movie - TMZ - March 8th, 2024
- The 13 Scariest Horror Movies Streaming on Peacock: Alien, Leprechaun, The Exorcist: Believer and More - Syfy - March 8th, 2024
- Every Horror Movie Releasing in March 2024 - MovieWeb - March 8th, 2024
- 10 Scariest Movies That Have Won Oscars - Collider - March 8th, 2024
- The 10 Best New Horror Movies To Watch in March 2024 - Collider - March 8th, 2024
- Horror Movie Based on Viral Willy Wonka Experience Coming Soon - Bloody Disgusting - March 8th, 2024
- Where To Watch Imaginary: Showtimes & Streaming Status - Screen Rant - March 8th, 2024
- Immaculate: Eveything You Need to Know About Sydney Sweeney's Upcoming Horror Movie That Will Give You ... - FandomWire - March 8th, 2024
- The 20 best horror movies on Peacock - Entertainment Weekly News - March 8th, 2024
- Horror Movie Based on the Willy Wonka Experience Villain, The Unknown, Now in the Works - MovieWeb - March 8th, 2024
- Melissa Barrera's Scream 7 Replacement Actually Sounds Better Than Fighting Ghostface Again - Screen Rant - March 8th, 2024
- 'Shaitaan' Movie 2024 Filming Locations: Shooting Spots Of The Horror Flick - TRAVEL + LEISURE INDIA - March 8th, 2024
- The Horror Movie Franchise With the Most Sequels Ever Is One You've Never Heard of - Collider - March 8th, 2024
- Jimmy Fallon asked people to ruin a horror movie by adding a single word to its title - Upworthy - March 8th, 2024
- The Absolute Best Horror Movies on Hulu - CNET - March 8th, 2024
- Willy Wonka Experience creepy character 'The Unknown' handed role in new horror movie - The Mirror - March 8th, 2024
- The Best Sea Monster Movies, Ranked - Screen Rant - February 28th, 2024
- The Borderlands Movie's Scary Behind The Scenes Drama That Has Us Worried - Screen Rant - February 28th, 2024
- Netflix Just Quietly Added the Best Holiday Thriller of the Decade - Inverse - February 28th, 2024
- The 20 best scary movies streaming right now - Entertainment Weekly News - February 19th, 2024
- Best Horror Movies of 2024 Ranked - New Scary Movies to Watch - Rotten Tomatoes - February 19th, 2024
- 'Only Murders in the Building' Adds Molly Shannon to Season 4 Cast - Yahoo Eurosport UK - February 19th, 2024
- Why Lindsay Lohan Refused to Kiss Charlie Sheen in "Scary Movie 5" - Best Life - February 19th, 2024
- 15 Best Scary Movies To Stream - Screen Rant - February 11th, 2024
- Eight Skin-Crawling Scary Films That Don't Have Any Jump Scares In Them - Digg - February 11th, 2024
- David Cronenberg names some of the scariest movies ever - Far Out Magazine - February 11th, 2024
- 12 Horror Movies That Will Give You the Biggest Jump Scares - Collider - February 3rd, 2024
- TAROT's Trailer Brings the Iconic Cards to Life and Things Get Weird - Nerdist - February 3rd, 2024
- Review: Baghead - Is the Movie as Scary as it Looks? - Blazing Minds - February 3rd, 2024
- Natasha Lyonne Says James Woods Hit On Her As A Teenager While Filming Scary Movie 2 - 106.3 The Groove - February 3rd, 2024
- The Witcher's Freya Allan explains the challenges of filming her first horror movie Baghead: "You have to surrender ... - Gamesradar - January 26th, 2024
- The 5 Best Uses of Popcorn in Scary Movies - Dread Central - January 26th, 2024
- 5 Horror Films That Transformed The Genre - Study Finds - January 26th, 2024
- Kristen Stewart Wants to Star in Another Horror Movie in the Future - ComingSoon.net - January 26th, 2024
- Best Home Invasion Movies of All Time, Ranked - MovieWeb - January 26th, 2024
- Presence Review: Steven Soderbergh Tells a Ghost Story from the Ghosts POV. It Is Scary? Not Quite. But the Family Demons Lure You In - Variety - January 26th, 2024
- 55 best horror movies that are actually good and terrifying - Digital Spy - January 18th, 2024
- She is a Real Housewife, was in a scary movie franchise, is pals with Bethenny Frankel, has a Hilton connectio - Daily Mail - January 18th, 2024
- The Scream cast talk about the legacy of Scary Movie - Popverse - January 9th, 2024
- The 20 Best Horror Movies on Netflix: January 2024 - Vulture - January 9th, 2024
- Scream cast reveals their favorite scary movies - Popverse - January 9th, 2024
- Horror fanatics are 'desperate' to watch the first scary movie of the year Night Swim after trailer leaves the - Daily Mail - January 9th, 2024
- 20 Scariest Horror Movies That Are Too Disturbing to Re-Watch - Collider - January 1st, 2024
- Raging Grace review politicised critique of imperialism in horror movie form - The Guardian - January 1st, 2024
- 15 Scariest Horror Movies of All Time, According to Rotten Tomatoes - MovieWeb - January 1st, 2024
- The 19 Best Horror Films of 2023 Best Life - Best Life - January 1st, 2024
- The Best Horror Movies of 2021, Ranked by Tomatometer - Rotten Tomatoes - December 23rd, 2023
- This Is What Takes 'The Descent' From Scary to Terrifying - Collider - December 23rd, 2023
- 15 Best Horror Movies Of 2023 - Screen Rant - December 23rd, 2023
- 25 Best Horror Movies Created in the Last 5 Years - CBR - Comic Book Resources - December 12th, 2023
- 25 horror movies that were based on true stories - Yardbarker - December 12th, 2023
- The 30 best horror movies of all time - Gamesradar - December 12th, 2023
- Scary Movies In Theaters Now (2023/12/06)- Tickets to Movies in Theaters, Broadway Shows, London Theatre & More - Hollywood.com - December 12th, 2023
- What Is the Highest Grossing Horror Movie of All Time? - Collider - December 12th, 2023
- The 27 Best Horror Films of 2023 - MarieClaire.com - December 12th, 2023
- Upcoming horror movies: new scary films coming in 2023 and beyond - Gamesradar - December 12th, 2023
- 20 Best Horror Movies on Max (Formerly HBO Max): Dec. 2023 - Vulture - December 12th, 2023
- Scary Movie (2000) - Plot - IMDb - December 3rd, 2023
- The Best Horror Movies on Netflix - Rotten Tomatoes - October 16th, 2023
- The Best Horror Movies on Prime Video to Watch Right Now - October 16th, 2023
- From Psycho to a new crop of horror movies, the genre has some mommy issues - The Seattle Times - May 13th, 2023
- Months After Hulu Controversy, Mike Tyson Makes Major Move in the World of Cinema - EssentiallySports - April 8th, 2023
- Best Horror Movies of 2023 Ranked - New Scary Movies to Watch - March 31st, 2023
- Three cheers for the Moose: Everybody knows the name of beloved '80s sitcom star and 'Masked Singer' eliminee - Yahoo Entertainment - March 31st, 2023
- The 10 Scariest Horror Movies Ever - Rotten Tomatoes - February 26th, 2023
- Films Turning 10 in 2013: Oz the Great and Poweful The Croods Oblivion Labor ... - Latest Tweet by Pop - LatestLY - January 1st, 2023
- Family of slain Idaho student from Skagit County relieved to hear of suspect's arrest - KPIC News - January 1st, 2023
- The 50 Scariest Movies of All Time - Reader's Digest - December 24th, 2022
- 'Airplane!' and 'Scary Movie' director rips cancel culture in comedy ... - December 24th, 2022
- "I was a side piece and you're a str*pper": Nia Long spills tea about Regina Halls role in The Best Man: The Final Chapters - Sportskeeda - December 24th, 2022
- Mother says scary movie guy wanted to kidnap her child in Spains Castellon area - The Olive Press - December 16th, 2022
- The Daily Show To Replace Trevor Noah with Chelsea Handler, Kal Penn, Al Franken, Sarah Silverman & Leslie Jones - Television - December 8th, 2022
- 'Airplane!' and 'Scary Movie' director rips cancel culture in comedy: 'We don't want to try to educate' - Fox News - November 11th, 2022
- 20 Scary Horror Movies to Watch on HBO Max - Harper's BAZAAR - October 2nd, 2022
- Best scary movies of 2022 to watch for Halloween - Dexerto - October 2nd, 2022
Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero