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Movies / Upcoming / The Children
The Children

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The Children (2008)

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Reviews Counted:13

Fresh:10

Rotten:3

Average Rating:6.3/10

Consensus: Unsettling and spine-chilling low-budget British horror, with effective and disturbing scares.

Genre: Horror/Suspense

US Box Office: $0

Starring: Rachel Shelley, Stephen Campbell Moore, Jeremy Sheffield, Eva Birthistle

Starring: Rachel Shelley, Stephen Campbell Moore, Jeremy Sheffield, Eva Birthistle, Hannah Tointon, Eva Sayer, Jake Hathaway, William Howes, Raffiella Brooks

Director: Tom Shankland

Story: Paul Andrew Williams
Producer: Allan Niblo, James Richardson
Director: Tom Shankland

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Reviews for The Children

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1 - 13 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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Watching your kid kill someone is scary, but watching them come after YOU ... yikes.

Full Review Source: FEARnet | comment Comment
04/22/09
Scott Weinberg
Scott Weinberg
FEARnet

As killer kid horror movies go, 'The Children' is easily one of the best.

Full Review Source: ESplatter | comment Comment
04/02/09
Lucius Gore
Lucius Gore
ESplatter

Borrowing liberally from classic evil-children horrors, the gruesome deaths are inventive, but this is more about killer set-pieces than a satisfying story. A respectable genre outing.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
12/05/08
Anna Smith
Anna Smith
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Shankland’s approach is oblique rather than graphic, but these icy chills will send shivers down your spine.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
12/05/08
Nigel Floyd
Nigel Floyd
Time Out

Watching The Children is like listening to babies cry. Unsettling and exasperating, you pray for it to stop.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
12/05/08
Matt Glasby
Matt Glasby
Channel 4 Film

The grown-ups, rather hysterically, blame each others’ parenting skills. The plot promptly disintegrates into a gory struggle for credibility against appalling odds.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
12/05/08
James Christopher
James Christopher
Times [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The fundamentally disturbing and creepy aspects about such random and unpredictable child-centric mayhem are always present, no matter how ludicrously intense and darkly humorous things get.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
12/05/08
Phelim O'Neill
Phelim O'Neill
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This efficient British chiller ticks the right boxes.

Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | comment Comment
12/05/08
David Gritten
David Gritten
Daily Telegraph

The Children could be a blackly comic warning to give kids their MMR jabs, an anti (or pro) abortion metaphor (one male victim looks like they're giving birth and Toynton's character was almost aborted), or simply a bloody, good horror film.

Full Review Source: Sky Movies | comment Comment
12/05/08
Rob Daniel
Rob Daniel
Sky Movies

A novel idea that deserves a remake with better effects, better writing and better acting.

Full Review Source: Sun Online | comment Comment
12/05/08
Sun Online

The idea of cosseted middle-class tots becoming feral psychopaths has potential, though most of it is squandered by uncertain direction and some unconvincing psychology.

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
12/05/08
Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Independent

The movie is surprisingly gory and suspenseful: a joyous corrective to the festive cheer.

Full Review Source: Teletext | comment Comment
12/04/08
Victor Olliver
Victor Olliver
Teletext

a creepy genre treat that is damn-near perfect in its execution.

Full Review Source: Eye for Film | comment Comment
11/27/08
Anton Bitel
Anton Bitel
Eye for Film
 
 
1 - 13 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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Latest News for The Children

December 05, 2008: UK Critics Consensus: Writers Warm to Madagascar 2; UK Critics Liked Lakeview Terrace
With thirteen new releases in the UK cinemas this weekend, let Rotten Tomatoes help you sort the tinsel from the turkeys. We have animals on the loose in Madagascar: Escape 2... More...

November 12, 2008: update of Village Of The Damned and Would You Kill A Child? to our own virus-obsessed times Opens in new window
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September 26, 2008: Exclusive: Brand New The Children Photos and Director Introduction
Writing exclusively for RT, director Tom Shankland presents the first gallery of stills from the set of his twisted child-zombie movie The Children and takes us in to the... More...

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