The Movie
The chilling British import The Children starts out with a typical holiday visit, fraught with family drama that miraculously dodges any hint of tired parent/child cliché. But the strained merriment soon degrades to The Worst Christmas Ever, as a mysterious infection compels the younger cousins one by one to begin acting strangely, then aggressively, then violently. And then they turn downright evil. Who will escape? Who won't survive? Why can't they find a decent cell phone signal? And why didn't they open their presents when they had the chance?
Screenwriter/director Tom Shankland makes up for the lack of familiar faces by imparting tremendous cinematic style which renders a taut, unsettling night and day with the in-laws. That style involves a lot of blood, and smart use of pretty much every trick in the book to scare us, the way a good modern horror film should.
The Picture
The 1.85:1 image can be noisy at times, particularly in dark or out of focus shots, and unfortunately there are many. At least one shot early on looked like it came from our frequently used HQV demo disc, and the results here would not have passed. There's an overall softness, no real reference-quality video herein, backgrounds can look artificially compressed, and skintones and the colors of the ubiquitous woods do not look quite right. At its best it is a slight improvement over DVD.
The Sound
The DTS-HD Master Audio sound on the other hand does an admirable job conveying stillness, emptiness, through the use some subtle cues especially from the rears: a touch of resonance, birds flitting, a twig snapping. I also noted some surprisingly well-done front-to-back directionality, and frequently impressive sounds of a bustling house, even suggesting the rooms that are off-camera. Of course there are the requisite sonic jolts and bass thumps too in this expertly crafted 5.1 track.
The Extras
While not fully-loaded or in any way Blu-ray exclusive, the extras are nonetheless generous. The 20-minute "Making of The Children" is broached with a sense of fun, and the three deleted scenes, about six minutes total, offer real insight. "Working with the Children" (five minutes) introduces us to the quartet of charming youngsters, and their designated "Wrangler." "Shooting on Location" explains how the production came to shoot at the lovely private estate (four minutes), "Paul Hyett Talks Prosthetics" reveals the work of the special makeup effects designer (five minutes), and "Snow Set Design" (six-and-a-half minutes) shows how to turn summer into winter. Beer in hand, the writer/director gives us a tour of his home away from home, and a glimpse of his inspirations, in "Inside Tom Shankland's On Set Lair" (eight minutes). All except "Shooting on Location" are in HD, although soft.
Final Thoughts
The Children is apparently the most popular of the new crop of Lionsgate's "Ghost House Underground" independent horror titles and I can see why. Driven by strong audio and backed by ample supplements, this is definitely a tension-filled evening, for the grownups only.
Product Details
- Actors: Eva Birthistle, Stephen Campbell Moore, Jeremy Sheffield, Rachel Shelley, Hannah Tointon, Raffiella Brooks, Jake Hathaway, William Howes, Eva Sayer
- Director: Tom Shankland
- Audio Format/Languages: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (English)
- Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Rating: R
- Studio: Lionsgate
- Release Date: October 6, 2009
- Run Time: 84 minutes
- List Price: $29.99
- Extras:
- "Making of The Children"
- Deleted Scenes
- "Working with the Children"
- "Shooting on Location"
- "Paul Hyett Talks Prosthetics"
- "Snow Set Design"
- "Inside Tom Shankland's On Set Lair"
