Who Can Kill a Child?
(AKA;Quién Puede Matar a un Niño?)
(Alfa Digital Region 0 NTSC DVD)
(1976)
review by Blackgloves

Killer Kiddies and terrible tots have persistently surfaced in horror films and thrillers over the years: "The Bad Seed" (1956) and "Village Of The Damned" (1960) effectively played on the notion of angelic-looking children secretly harbouring devilish natures, while the theme was successfully updated in Stephen King's "The Children Of The Corn" (1984) and -- rather less successfully -- in the very poor Ed Hunt slasher "Bloody Birthday" (1981). Nowhere though, has the idea been exploited quite so powerfully and with as much originality as in Narcisco Ibáñez-Serrador's disturbing sun-drenched 1976 Spanish thriller "Who Can Kill A Child?". Although the occasional eerie scene and the allegorical undertones of the piece -- encouraged by its almost surrealistic atmosphere -- are strongly reminiscent of Hitchcock's "The Birds", the director takes an uncompromisingly modern approach in explicating the full horror of the situation that the film's unfortunate protagonists find themselves facing; a predicament which eventually escalates to levels of truly jaw-dropping nastiness! "Who Can Kill A Child?" deserves a much wider audience than its cult, Euro-horror label would usually consign to it: this little-seen film stands shoulder to shoulder with the best of 70s horror and is still as powerful a viewing experience today as it ever has been. Thankfully, this semi-legit release by Alfa Digital now gives us all a chance to discover an overlooked gem.

Two British holidaymakers, Tom (Lewis Flander) and his pregnant wife Evelyn (Prunella Ransome) take a trip to a small fishing Island off the coast of Spain. Upon arrival they notice that the entire place seems deserted apart from a few children lurking around near the dock. After trying in vain to find another living soul besides the odd child playing here and there, they finally notice an old man lying on a street corner. As they get closer though, they are horrified to find that he is being beaten with his own walking stick by a little girl! Tom drags the old man away from her, but he is already dead -- and, turning a corner, he hears excited voices coming from a courtyard and discovers a group of children with a scythe, hacking at a man suspended from a piece of rope! In disbelief Tom and Evelyn return to their deserted hotel where they eventually find an adult hiding in an attic room. He tells them that the town's children all, simultaneously, turned on the adults one night and massacred them! The adults were unable to kill their own offspring to save themselves so there was little resistance to the slaughter. As crowds of children begin to gather, Tom and Evelyn soon find themselves besieged by youngsters determined to make sure they don't leave alive. Their only chance of survival is to overcome their reluctance to kill children!

Director Narcisco Ibáñez-Serrador has only made two films in the horror genre, but both are absolute masterpieces. While his Spanish Gothic variation on the Italian giallo "La Residencia" (aka; "The House That Screamed") was a study in understated menace and sexual repression, "Who Can Kill A Child" is a total assault on audience sensitivities -- as will be apparent to viewers as soon as the film's harrowing opening title sequence roles: a voice-over describes the results of various atrocities from the Korean War to Vietnam to Biafra, while gruelling footage from said historical episodes unflinchingly depicts images of starving, injured, dead and dying children. Every so often the image freezes while a childlike nursery rhyme plays on the soundtrack accompanied by haunting childish giggles (a sound that will return to unnerve the viewer throughout the movie). This goes on for a good ten minutes until I was beginning to think that a "Faces Of Death" documentary had been pressed on to the disc instead of the proper film! After this, the casual viewer might be forgiven for thinking that things couldn't possibly get any more disturbing -- but he or she would be wrong!

After alerting us to the coming nastiness, Ibáñez-Serrador introduces us to apparently commonplace tourist holiday scenes. Two British holidaymakers are eager to get away from their overcrowded Spanish holiday resort, but they are unaware of two bodies which have washed up on the shore during their stay; they rent a boat and set out for a relaxing stay on a peaceful island. The normalcy of these tentative opening scenes contrasted with the viewer's knowledge that two dead bodies have already been discovered, leaves the impression that something is amiss -- but once the couple reach the island, the director shows admirable restraint for the rest of the first half of the film, creating an uneasy atmosphere from the deserted town and odd behaviour of the small number of children which occasionally appear. A dead body is revealed to the viewer early on, but is unseen by the protagonists who try to come up with (implausible) reasons why there is absolutely no one about. After building up suspense for the best part of forty minutes, a quick succession of disturbing murders performed by smiling children, and an increasing sense of isolation thanks to the island's warren-like streets, leaves an indelible impression on the viewer's consciousness -- while the final struggle for survival is executed with kinetic flair and uncompromising brutality.

There are some truly haunting images during the course of the movie: a father is led away by his smiling daughter, even though he knows perfectly well the fate that awaits him -- he just cannot bring himself to harm his own child; a gang of preteen boys strip the body of one of their female victims out of "natural" curiosity; a cute five year old struggles with a revolver as he prepares to shoot an unsuspecting victim in the back of the head. All this is disturbing enough, but when the two protagonists decide to fight back, scenes which include swathes of kiddies being mowed down under machine-gun fire can't help but shock!

Structured in a very similar manner to "The Birds" (with echoes of Romero's "Dead Trilogy" also much apparent), Ibáñez-Serrador follows that classic film's reluctance to explain the origins of the children's mysterious mania -- a decision which leaves the film open to interpretation. The scenario could very easily look ridiculous but the director knows exactly which buttons to press for maximum effect and there are hints at some kind of supernatural connection between the children which spreads as the 'infected' come into contact with other, normal kids; but it is never elaborated on, and the film certainly doesn't have much of a sci-fi feel to it. An underlying socio-political point could be read into it, especially in the light of the opening documentary scenes, but this too is only hinted at.

The film's many child actors are extraordinary -- ranging from very young kids to menacing twelve year-olds; all of them perform their roles with unnerving conviction. Lewis Fiander and Prunella Ransome are especially sympathetic as the two English protagonists and the pregnancy of Ransome's character only emphasises the desperation of their situation. Like many seventies horror movies, the ending is downbeat and pessimistic (combining the conclusion of "Night Of The Living Dead" with that of "Shivers") but even before we get there, a thoroughly cruel twist is delivered which will knock every viewer for six!

This disc from Alfa Digital seems to be only available from web retailer Luminous Film & Video Wurks (www.lfvw.com). The presentation is surprisingly good: a nice, anamorphic widescreen transfer from a good print with fairly decent colour and little print damage evident. We have both the Spanish language track with English subtitles and the English dub track which reverts to Spanish (with English subtitles) for certain scenes which were missing from the English release version. The fact that two British actors play the lead roles means that the English dub is probably the best version to go with; both are fairly decent mono tracks though. A trailer and stills gallery are the only extras.

Until a proper release comes along this is a very adequate way to see this marvellous film. Its a very well-made, and truly eerie work -- which will stay in the mind long after its over.