Review of "There's Something Wrong With the Children": Uncertain Direction Obstructs an Interesting Idea
Children are terrifying even when there is no supernatural aspect involved, which is why the creepy kid stereotype has endured for so long in horror. Anyone who has ever spent time with youngsters can attest to the fact that they often engage in risky behavior and make outlandish statements for no apparent reason. In addition, children are essentially little adults in that they lack a strong moral compass that would prohibit them from acting on their most twisted dreams.
The fact that children are such a good target audience for horror also means that the market is flooded with spooky children's tales that all seem too familiar to be frightening or interesting. It's to Blumhouse's credit that their newest film, There's Something Wrong With the Children, takes a somewhat different approach to exploring the theme. Unfortunately, while having a fantastic cast and a well-written story, the film suffers from a lack of confidence in its direction, which undermines the promise of the interesting subject.
The events in There's Something Wrong With the Children take place in a set of remote log cabins occupied by two families for a weekend getaway. Ellie (Amanda Crew), Thomas (Carlos Santos), and their children, Lucy (Briella Guiza) and Spencer (Spencer James), come first. (David Mattle). Although Ellie and Thomas are having marital difficulties, they both insist that their children are the finest thing that has ever happened to them. Margo (Alisha Wainwright) and Ben (Zach Gilford), a childless couple who prioritized their professions above the difficulties of motherhood, are traveling with Ellie and Thomas on their holidays. The second couple had history of conflict because of Ben's erratic mental state. Nonetheless, they are doing well and are beginning to question whether they shouldn't establish a family of their own in response to peer pressure and because they like spending time with Ellie and Thomas' kids.
There's Something Wrong With the Children's villainous kidsCredit: MGM+
This is a great dramatic setting since it removes the individuals from society and forces them to deal with their own conflicts and aspirations. However, There's Something Wrong With the Children promises to discuss serious topics, such as how women feel they have a deadline when it comes to having children, how couples need time apart from the children if they want to keep their marriage strong, and how the stigma of mental illness breeds mistrust among loved ones. There's Something Wrong With the Children wants so much to be a horror picture that it sacrifices depth in its character development for the sake of its genre.
There's Something Wrong With the Children foreshadows that Lucy and Spencer will discover something in the woods that causes them to modify their behavior. The children's increased hostility leads to awkward interactions that drive the parents to fight with one another. These malicious deeds, however, never vary too far from what children do in the real world, and it looks as if There's Something Wrong With the Children wants the viewer to wonder whether the kids are being sinister on purpose or if it's just part of their innocent play. This, along with the outstanding work of the whole adult ensemble, has the potential to build to a tense and unsettling climax. However, There's Something Wrong With the Children often forgets subtlety is a strong technique, and this distracts from the film's emotional impact by constantly calling attention to the fact that it is a horror film.
Image courtesy of MGM+There's Something Wrong with the Children stars Briella Guiza and Zach Gilford.
When the camera locks upon one of the children's evil expressions, it stays still for an excessive amount of time, removing any lingering doubt about the true character of the little villains. The camera moves in strange ways, adding to the unsettling atmosphere. The same is true of dramatic sequences that fail to make an effect because of this. The issue of sound mixing also has to be addressed. While The Gifted's original songs are excellent on their own, the show's reliance on a creepy score means there's never a chance to relax and get to know the characters.
Perhaps the limited budget of There's Something Wrong With the Children and the pressure of the Blumhouse label kept it from being as brutal and nasty as it wanted to be. The reality remains that audience participation in a horror film is enhanced when we care about the protagonists. However, the picture fails to scare because the drama is underplayed in favor of dubious directing choices, and it also fails to address all the topics it raises. Casual viewers won't mind There's Something Wrong With the Children in its current state, but it hurts to see such a great cast waste their talents on such a boring horror film.
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Review of There Is a Problem with the Kids
The Children (2008) and Who Can Kill a Child? (1976) are both classics in the kid-gone-bad subgenre, and so is Roxanne Benjamin's There's Something Wrong With The Children (2012). The works of T.J. Cimfel and David White, on the other hand, are more interested in demon mysticism than in sporadic violence, hence they are not reflections of real life. By playing off their seeming innocence, Benjamin creates disturbing actions from the youngsters into tense situations. There's Something Wrong With The Children attempts to rectify the problem that horror directors seldom have the guts to confront cliches in which child characters suffer injury or become aggressors, but in an inconsistent dynamic shift that wades into muddy waters when making mental health accusations.
An opening theme by The Sisters of Mercy's "More" twirls cinematography to create the mood for There's Something Wrong With The Children, which has an atmosphere that satisfies the need for a sophisticated midnighter. Benjamin emphasizes an upside-down instability that is recreated by Yaron Levy's camera as it zooms down on brilliant green insect zappers and switches viewpoints. Even in the gloomier scenes as kids look into hazy depths beneath cavernous shadows, the imagery is brilliantly colored, ranging from scarlet reds to evergreen forestation, producing this pop-sensationalism. In terms of style and vitality, Benjamin delivers on promises that are both pulpy and direct. There's a sinister undercurrent, and the conflict between embracing and ignoring genre conventions only increases.
A character arc concerning bipolar disease is only partially developed, and there are other, more fundamental flaws in There's Something Wrong With The Children that haven't been touched on here. Benjamin is unafraid of the debate that will inevitably arise about the relative merits of endorsement and portrayal (cf. the controversial ending of last year's Smile). The character's mental disease and downward spiral, however, are not clean. To illustrate the gap between society's acceptance and misunderstanding of these diagnosable outbursts, the youngsters consciously take advantage of the way others interpret mental health disorders by increasing the volume of their "crazy" words. That doesn't mean it gets a dissertation-level treatment; it's just a weapon used by bad guys.
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