I actually saw this poorly made exploitation instructional kiddie film on two occasions in elementary school. One time with the crime scene footage included and one time without. I was in the second grade in 1967 when Child Molester was shown in the school cafeteria for grades 2 through 7. The lunchroom was packed. Like a lot of films that where shown in the school auditorium (Disney's Pollyanna being one), students had to get permission from their parents by way of a signed permission slip in order to see the film. Back in 1967, I'm sure my mother (like a lot of parents) had no idea what they were signing when allowing their children to view this horrifically misguided cheap and irresponsible little film. In 1964, when this film was originally made, all public films were generally safe to view, certainly instructional and educational ones. At that time, even the MPAA rating system for theatrical films didn't exist. Educational films were shown frequently in school, but none with the content that this one had. Up to that time, as a 7 year old, I believed the world to be a wondrous safe place and the adults in it to be generally good and kind. This film changed all that.
At the end of the school day and in the lunchroom auditorium, a Police Officer introduced the film prior to it being shown and set us up for what we were about to see. The movie started out harmless enough. As a 7 year old I could easily identify with the little brown haired girl that the film focuses on. I didn't understand why we in the audience could "hear" the strangers voice, but were never allowed to actually see him, except from the waist down. The juxtaposition back and forth between worried adults at home and scenes of the little girls being lead and stalked through the woods were unsettling. I remember the giggles from other kids in the auditorium at the moment when the busybody noisy neighbor runs out of her front door and her boobs are bopping up and down. That scene was laughed and talked about for days. If the film seemed boring in spots, the scene when the film fades to black after the little girl screams in the pipe woke me up real fast. That scene was unsettling to this 7 year old, but nothing could have prepared me for the crime scene footage that came afterwards. Odd, because I remember those images coming on the screen and not knowing exactly what I was looking at? It was like I had to piece that image together. Suddenly an older boy behind me said, "those are the girls". Quickly, but like in slow motion, the reality of what I was looking at set in and I became very frightened and very disturbed The film ended and the Police Officer followed up with a reminder. I ran home from school as fast as I could and told my mother what I had seen. I talked and thought about nothing else for weeks. Those crime scene images would not leave my head. I slept on the edge of my parents bed for months. I was unable to sleep alone or be in a room by myself. My mother continually reminded me the importance of "thinking good thoughts" but to no avail. Before long, too many parents protested that this film was giving their children nightmares and the school quit their yearly run of it.
Over 40 years have passed since I've seen this crummy little film. For years I thought I would never see it again and now here it is in all it's campy and irresponsible glory. A film as bad as any film ever made, maybe even worse coming from the paranoid fear of adult filmmakers. Poorly made with narration that is both prejudice and homophobic. To a child, this film gives the impression that every grown up in the world is a potential murderer and child molester. The message of this film is that no child is safe in the world and that no adult can be trusted. Walk outside of your house, there will be a molester. Go to the movies, there will be a molester. Play in the school yard and there will be a molester. Your next door neighbor or anyone on the street could be a molester and they are everywhere in record numbers and parents, teachers and policemen are helpless to do anything. The burden is on the child to protect himself. Child Molester is probably the cruelest and most irresponsible instructional film ever made. It is one thing for the producers of Highway safety films to show teenagers the images of mangled dismembered bodies in auto accidents and quite another to show second graders images of murdered children. It was wrong and a cruel thing to instill fear into children by this means. Shame on all of them for their so called "good intentions". They took a part of wonder that is apart of childhood and instead replaced it with fear at too early of an age. There are other ways of conveying the information without scaring and traumatizing children. If I were to ever confront the producer of this film, I'd punch him right in the nose.
At the end of the school day and in the lunchroom auditorium, a Police Officer introduced the film prior to it being shown and set us up for what we were about to see. The movie started out harmless enough. As a 7 year old I could easily identify with the little brown haired girl that the film focuses on. I didn't understand why we in the audience could "hear" the strangers voice, but were never allowed to actually see him, except from the waist down. The juxtaposition back and forth between worried adults at home and scenes of the little girls being lead and stalked through the woods were unsettling. I remember the giggles from other kids in the auditorium at the moment when the busybody noisy neighbor runs out of her front door and her boobs are bopping up and down. That scene was laughed and talked about for days. If the film seemed boring in spots, the scene when the film fades to black after the little girl screams in the pipe woke me up real fast. That scene was unsettling to this 7 year old, but nothing could have prepared me for the crime scene footage that came afterwards. Odd, because I remember those images coming on the screen and not knowing exactly what I was looking at? It was like I had to piece that image together. Suddenly an older boy behind me said, "those are the girls". Quickly, but like in slow motion, the reality of what I was looking at set in and I became very frightened and very disturbed The film ended and the Police Officer followed up with a reminder. I ran home from school as fast as I could and told my mother what I had seen. I talked and thought about nothing else for weeks. Those crime scene images would not leave my head. I slept on the edge of my parents bed for months. I was unable to sleep alone or be in a room by myself. My mother continually reminded me the importance of "thinking good thoughts" but to no avail. Before long, too many parents protested that this film was giving their children nightmares and the school quit their yearly run of it.
Over 40 years have passed since I've seen this crummy little film. For years I thought I would never see it again and now here it is in all it's campy and irresponsible glory. A film as bad as any film ever made, maybe even worse coming from the paranoid fear of adult filmmakers. Poorly made with narration that is both prejudice and homophobic. To a child, this film gives the impression that every grown up in the world is a potential murderer and child molester. The message of this film is that no child is safe in the world and that no adult can be trusted. Walk outside of your house, there will be a molester. Go to the movies, there will be a molester. Play in the school yard and there will be a molester. Your next door neighbor or anyone on the street could be a molester and they are everywhere in record numbers and parents, teachers and policemen are helpless to do anything. The burden is on the child to protect himself. Child Molester is probably the cruelest and most irresponsible instructional film ever made. It is one thing for the producers of Highway safety films to show teenagers the images of mangled dismembered bodies in auto accidents and quite another to show second graders images of murdered children. It was wrong and a cruel thing to instill fear into children by this means. Shame on all of them for their so called "good intentions". They took a part of wonder that is apart of childhood and instead replaced it with fear at too early of an age. There are other ways of conveying the information without scaring and traumatizing children. If I were to ever confront the producer of this film, I'd punch him right in the nose.