The Children is a 2008 British Horror film directed by Tom Shankland. It follows a family as they try to escape the grasps of their suddenly estranged children who show signs of murderous behaviour.
I found this film interesting and extremely shocking, mainly due to its representation of children. It is often conventional for horrors to use children as they represent purity and innocence so it shocks and affects a viewer strongly to see a child taking part in strange, paranormal and evil behaviour. However, many horrors write children to be possessed or turned evil and in the end, the child will be cured, which we see in the film Insidious, directed by James Wan. In The Children, they are abnormal right from the start of the film and they aren't changed, leaving the audience in mystery as to why. I think the most shocking of all though, for me at least, was the extremely graphic and violent deaths involved. Most films will shy away from killing off a child character at all costs, but The Children doesn't hesitate. In fact, we see the parents of these children murdering them, violently and horrifically, which is something that most parents couldn't even comprehend in their heads. It turns the relationship between parents and offspring on its head and makes it extremely evil and twisted and, arguably, sadistic. The cinematography for this film was to a good standard but probably not the best I've seen. It was definitely impressive for a seemingly low budget film. It allowed you to get a good view of all the action while making it interesting and creating tension. The soundtrack was also very crucial to this film and I feel it heavily relied on its soundtrack to create suspense, tension and atmosphere. All in all, a good film that definitely got my attention! It left a few memorable expressions on my face! Definitely worth a watch and really represents the British horror film industry well.
I found this film interesting and extremely shocking, mainly due to its representation of children. It is often conventional for horrors to use children as they represent purity and innocence so it shocks and affects a viewer strongly to see a child taking part in strange, paranormal and evil behaviour. However, many horrors write children to be possessed or turned evil and in the end, the child will be cured, which we see in the film Insidious, directed by James Wan. In The Children, they are abnormal right from the start of the film and they aren't changed, leaving the audience in mystery as to why. I think the most shocking of all though, for me at least, was the extremely graphic and violent deaths involved. Most films will shy away from killing off a child character at all costs, but The Children doesn't hesitate. In fact, we see the parents of these children murdering them, violently and horrifically, which is something that most parents couldn't even comprehend in their heads. It turns the relationship between parents and offspring on its head and makes it extremely evil and twisted and, arguably, sadistic. The cinematography for this film was to a good standard but probably not the best I've seen. It was definitely impressive for a seemingly low budget film. It allowed you to get a good view of all the action while making it interesting and creating tension. The soundtrack was also very crucial to this film and I feel it heavily relied on its soundtrack to create suspense, tension and atmosphere. All in all, a good film that definitely got my attention! It left a few memorable expressions on my face! Definitely worth a watch and really represents the British horror film industry well.