The Children

Wow, I haven't been as creeped out by a horror movie for long and "The children" has such a worn off basic idea that has been used in many other movies before... I would never have expected such a positive surprise. If you know the directors previous movie "WAZ" you know what kind of cold bleakness to expect also in this one. What makes this movie refreshing is that it doesn't go for creepy children with forks chasing people but rather for an eerie kind of realism. The whole thing starts out slow and cynically set around the Christmas holidays where some families meet for a festive season. Soon one kid starts to act strange and the only explanation given for the kids acting weirder and weirder is some kind of infection. What really works great is the paranoia of the parents not expecting that the bad things happening are connected to their children and of course not being able to hurt them (remember that Spanish movie with the island of children... pretty similar premise). Accidents start to happen, the children are getting aggressive but are not blindly going for their parents but plotting some pretty devious traps. There is no positive outcome here and the finale could be interpreted in several ways, but none positive. Its strange that many European movies go for this realistic bleakness lately. The incredible "Eden lake" comes to mind and shares some similarities. Go watch this movie if you are into movies creeping you out rather on a psychological but on a visual level. Don't fall for the title... it made me expect a rather typical horror movie, but this one sure isn't although the basic premise is well known.