¿Quién puede matar a un niño? (1976)

Note des utilisateurs:

7.6/10   

Réalisateur:

Narciso Ibáñez Serrador

Writers:

Juan José Plans (novel)
Narciso Ibáñez Serrador (screenplay)

Release Date:

juin 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Accroche:

Suddenly . . . They were the only adults left alive on the island.

Plot:

A couple of English tourists arrive on an island where all the children have gone crazy and are murdering the adults.

Plot Keywords:

Children | Island | Murder | Boat | Stranded

Awards:

1 win

Avis des utilisateurs:

A masterpiece of horror.

Ensemble

Lewis Fiander	...	Tom
Prunella Ransome	...	Evelyn
Antonio Iranzo	...	Father of Crying Girl
Miguel Narros	...	Guardacostas 1
María Luisa Arias		(as Mª Luisa Arias)
Marisa Porcel
Juan Cazalilla
Luis Ciges	...	Enrique Amorós - the Postman
Antonio Canal
Aparicio Rivero
Fabián Conde	...	Camera shop clerk
Andrès Gomez		(as Andrés Gómez)
Maria Druille	...	Child (Crying daughter)
Lourdes De La Camara	...	Child (Lourdes) (as Lourdes de la Cámara)
Roberto Nauta	...	Child

Autre(s) titre(s):

Death is Child's Play (UK)
Island of Death (UK) (video title)
Island of the Damned (USA)
Los niños (Spain) (short title)
Lucifer's Curse (USA)
The Killer's Playground
Trapped (USA)
Who Can Kill a Child? (International: English title)
Would You Kill a Child? (UK)
Les révoltés de l'an 2000 (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]

Durée:

Argentina:107 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival) | Australia:90 min | Spain:100 min (approx) | USA:111 min (DVD)

Pays:

Spain

Langue:

Anglais | Espagnol

Couleur:

Couleur (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Son:

Mono

Classification:

Finland:(Banned) (1977) | UK:X (1976) | Argentina:18 (re-rating) (1982) (cut) | Argentina:X (original rating) | Argentina:16 (re-rating) (2003) (uncut) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Germany:18 (re-rating) (2009) | Italy:T (DVD) | Australia:M | France:-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Spain:18 | Iceland:(Banned)

Emplacements De Pelliculage:

Almuñécar, Granada, Andalucía, Spain

Company:

Penta Films

Anecdotes:

Director Cameo: ['Chicho Ibáñez-Serrador']The man that Tom asks about the noise in the village.

Guillemet:

Evelyn: [to Tom] There is something wrong on this island and you're trying to keep it from me. If there is something wrong, then whatever it is, I think we should leave.

Movie Connections:

References The Birds (1963)

A masterpiece of horror.

Why is it that, as a society, we tolerate the deaths of thousands of innocent children in wars and famines, yet when it comes to taking the life of an individual sprog in self defence, most of us would suddenly get a conscience? That is the conundrum examined in Narciso Ibáñez Serrador's thought provoking, and very creepy, Who Can Kill A Child?

An English couple, Tom and his pregnant wife Evelyn (Lewis Fiander and Prunella Ransome), arrive on a remote island for a holiday, only to find that the adult population has been thinned quite substantially by the local children, who have inexplicably become emotionless killers. Using an adult's reluctance to hurt a child to their advantage, the murderous mites have hacked and bashed nearly every grown-up in sight, and now they want to off the new arrivals.

Serrador starts his film with a sequence of disturbing news footage showing children suffering and dying as a result of war and poverty. These scenes unsettle the viewer before the story even begins; they are extremely potent because they are real.

We then meet the main characters, following them on their journey from the mainland to the island of Almanzora, home to countless killer kids. At first, Tom and Evelyn are perplexed by the lack of adults, but all eventually becomes clear to Tom when he witnesses a small girl club an old man to death and then, along with some other kids, use his body as a bizarre and bloody form of piñata.

At first Tom tries to hide the truth from his wife, but it's not long before it becomes obvious to her that something is wrong. Soon, they are both running for their lives, desperate to find a way off the island.

The use of seemingly-innocent psycho small-fry as the threat to supposedly superior adults is an interesting one (a theme also explored in the earlier British classic, Village of the Damned) and here it is used extremely well; even when it is obvious that action needs to be taken to survive, you can understand the grown-ups reluctance to waste a nipper (particularly seeing as the lead characters are parents themselves). And when the deadly progeny do eventually die, it is still very shocking stuff.

The film closes with a brilliant twist ending which I won't give away, but be assured that it is the perfect way to finish this great little Euro-horror treat.