The Not So Shining Children

I wasn’t a huge fan of The Children when I first saw the movie although I thought it was a pretty solid and original horror film in light of all the remakes and all sequels. However, after I saw it again and I found myself not liking it as much as I initially did and I also noticed that there are a lot of “Kubrickian” techniques that Shankland uses to make the audience scared or uneasy. I thought for a while what these elements were and why they didn’t work in The Children but worked in The Shining and I think I have found out why. Before I even get into why they didn’t work, or should I say why some of them didn’t work, I want to talk a little about what those elements were in the film.

In The Children, there are a couple of shots, accompanied by the score that were very reminiscent of The Shining. There were several shots of the children standing in one position as the camera slowly zooms in on them, while the score gets progressively tenser and tenser… but then it abruptly stops with no scares whatsoever. Much like in The Shining when the camera slowly gets closer and closer to Jack staring out of the window, loosing his mind, then cuts to a title card of ‘Tuesday’ with no jump-scare whatsoever. The technique was used several times within The Children to show that the kids are evil as opposed to going insane or possessed by evil spirits.

I also think that The Children is trying to create a sense of isolation as did The Shining and both stories take place during the winter time so the fact that everything is cold and barren plays into the way the film should feel. The Children had two different tones that I recognized: the cold and bitter tone of the outside and the stale worn out tone of the inside of the house.

The problem with using the technique of zooming in on somebody while the music intensifies is this movie is that it doesn’t fit with the rest of the film. The rest of the film is loud, abrupt and the action sequences are edited and shot quickly… so these slow tracking shots just seem weird and out of place. Whereas in The Shining, the whole movie is a slow-burn movie that progresses to a climax, much like the soundtrack and the way Jack descends into insanity. But, this technique doesn’t always fail; in fact it succeeds at the end of the film when we realize that Casey is infected. It’s the fact that the shots don’t fit well with the rest of the movie and to me; all they amounted to was more noise. Sometimes they even seemed as though they were visual non-sequiturs.

The tone and the ‘color’ of the film also didn’t quite fit with the rest of the film, if that makes any sense. Every color is so dry and stale, which is fine but because the rest of the movie is all over the place and so loud… it seems as though the tone doesn’t fit with how the movie is loudly progressing forward. I think it’s hard for me to explain this specific problem because it’s how I literally felt towards the film. Movies like The Shining or even The Thing are slow burn movies that have a very rich atmosphere to them because it starts up very slow and progresses to a huge climax.

The Children is not a bad film at all. Compared to most horror movies, it’s pretty original and it had its freaky moments but there are certain elements that fail at delivering a certain emotion because they don’t fit with other film elements. I’m not sure if The Shining was an inspiration to this film or not but it’s an element that I noticed right away. If The Shining wasn’t an inspiration or if the director wasn’t trying to homage Kubrick, then these shots and atmospheres would still seem weird in the rest of the movie.

Terror in the Aisles 5: Killer Children Triple Feature

Well another Terror in the Aisles is knocked off the list, this time around it was children in horror and it was at the Brew ‘n View theater… also known as The Vic. On the movie list they had It’s Alive with Larry Cohen in person to talk about his film, The Children and the Chicagoland debut of Paul Solet’s Grace. It was my first time seeing Grace so I came to this event just to see this film and to see It’s Alive on the big screen.

As usual, they began to play vintage trailers or what they call ‘Trailer Trash.’ The first half was a bunch of road movies; Road Warrior and Mad Max… of which had Mel Gibson thrown in there. They showed “classics” such as The Lost World from the 60s and the hysterical Mighty Pecking Man. If I remember, I think Quentin Tarantino re-released the film but I’m not sure.

The Q&A with Larry Cohen was a little boring but it was somewhat interesting to know that It’s Alive was shunned from ever hitting the big screen in America, even though it was HUGE in India and North Africa. It wasn’t until Larry decided to pimp it out in Chicago and after the Executives were fired from the studio did he finally get it out in the public. It was a box office success! He regaled his time that he had with composer Bernard Hermann and how they became friends and just general chitchat about the film.

It’s Alive

I always thought this was a pretty disturbing and pretty scary movie, especially to those living in the 70s. ‘Course nowadays most people would laugh at it because of the cheesy effects and the fact that you don’t see anything. But that’s what I like about this movie, it really takes the old saying, “the less you see, the scarier it is” and uses it to its advantage. Even though you do see the baby in the shadows, the rest is up to your imagination.

The Children

After seeing this again, I think I’m less of a fan of it. I’m a huge fan of the editing and the movie had its creepy parts but I think the sound design was a little over the top, there was a lot of screaming for no reason and I think it was trying to be Kubrickian… on par with The Shining but it didn’t work. I might watch it again just to get a good standpoint on the film but as of right now I think it’s a very mediocre film.

Grace

I love this film. I think what really worked for me was that it’s one of those slow-burn movies that relies on a heavy amount of atmosphere. The score, the lighting, the mood, the interaction each character has and the way the actors carry out their actions. It’s so soft and somber but at the same time it’s creepy. This is where the movie really succeeds… not that it didn’t succeed in other parts. It gives me a whole new look at breastfeeding and zombie babies.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad time at the Brew ‘n View but I think it could have been better. The sound was the biggest problem because it wasn’t setup right and it was so loud that all the people in the movies sounded like they were speaking with peanut butter in their mouths. However, after seeing this triple feature I know realize that I don’t want kids for a while.

A Look At Our Childhood Fears

A while ago I proposed a question on Twitter asking “why are kids so terrifying in horror movies?” I got this idea after I watched the film The Children. Well, the idea for the post was for somebody else to take a chance and write the answer to this question because I didn’t know it. Well, my question was answered but I also received an answer that wasn’t really what I was looking for BUT it answered a question that I had always secretly asked myself.

“Why is it, that when we see somebody get their arms and legs chopped off we don’t flinch… but when we see a needle go into somebody’s arm or we see somebody get their fingernails pulled back, we are immediately terrified?”

It’s a question of childhood and primal fear that was answered quit well by a buddy of mine on Twitter known simply as… ANGRYSAM.

Here is his take on this question:

“A Child's Fear: Special Post for Paradise of Horror

By: “Angry” Sam Lucchese

So you're sitting there watching a great horror movie with blood and guts and gore exploding, chain saws cutting off limbs, humans and zombies dying gruesome all over the screen and yet you're not scared. Not really shitting in your pants scared. Somebody's head implodes blasting brains out both ears, and you're thinking, "What a cool effect, I wonder how they did that?" Then a cute little kid, girl or boy, it don't matter, appears in a scary spot and the child whimpers or giggles or cries out in fear, and suddenly you feel afraid. A stupid kid is standing, innocent, singing a song, as a killer sneaks up behind with an axe, and you're freaking out of your skin. Finally you're left thinking, "Why the hell did that just scare the hell out of me?"

Fear is not suffering or pain. Fear is the memory of past pain or the anticipation of a new, unknown suffering. But technically, fear can't hurt you. It is an instinct intended to help us survive a dangerous situation. And, as far as horror movies and thrillers, a lot of people who love watching them aren't afraid of freaks with chain saws. I mean how many times in your life has that happened to you? For me, the answer is never. But, when I hear that kid I remember fear. I was a kid. I was afraid, of simple things, the dark, thunder, and strange noises, whatever. I'm not saying I was this frightened little whining kid crying for mommy, but yeah, there were moments when I was about 6 or 7 and thought I was gonna die. And no matter how old or tough we are, it is that base fear, primal instinct that kicks in, making us remember a child's fear of a killer sneaking around the corner, smiling a toothless grin as he prepares to lop off our head with a rusty shovel.”

“Angry” Sam has brought up several great points and ides in this short essay that he has written and I agree with him 100% on them. Realistically speaking, how many of us have ever had our limbs cut off by a maniac or have been tortured by inbreeds? None of us but we have experienced needles, toe stubbing, eye surgery, broken legs/ankles and small infections. We can relate to these incidents and we know the pain and when we see them on film… we remember that childhood fear and pain. It’s a great study in psychological fear and what makes us so afraid of the small things in horror movies.

I am not sure if “Angry” Sam is a huge horror fanatic but I think the he really banged the nailed on the head with this and whether or not he is a horror fan, it was a pleasure to post his idea up.

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Pediophobia: Children in Horror

A couple days ago I posed the question to some of my readers, “why are we, as an audience, so scared of kids in horror movies?” After seeing The Children, I was genuinely terrified of little kids, how they smile, how they look off into the distance with an emotionless expression and it got me thinking. Two people responded to my question, one of them took a whole new approach to it (I will post his answer later) and the other was Rachel Fariss. I think she really nailed it on this one and it's open to much discussion. I let her make this post so here is her answer:

“Guest poster RachsMedia here, of Rach's Media Opinions. Rick has kindly allowed me to post a discussion on children in horror. Actually it's less a discussion, more a collection of musings and opinions from yours truly. The question I'm asking is what is it that makes kids so creepy? I've decided that the answer to that question depends on what horror movie we're talking about. See, there's a few different ways to make a child scary. I'm going to go through some examples throw some ideas around about what's scary about each.

1. The Advanced Intelligence Children
These are the children that can outsmart or possibly control adults. The best example of this is The Village of the Damned. These creepy, glowing-eyed rascals are too clever for their own good. So what makes them creepy? Lines like this don't help:

"Why do you think your own survival depends upon emotion from us? Should we pity you? Empathize with your plight?" - Mara Chaffee

I think what makes these kids creepy is that they personify a fear that many parents deal with. "Are my kids going to be emotionally stunted? And what happens when I can't teach them anymore? Will they leave me for dead?".

2. Genuinely Evil Child
Here I'm talking about kids that understand that they're committing atrocities and are happy with that. Some good examples of this are Damien from The Omen, Henry from The Good Son and Micheal from Halloween. The images of these nasties go against the commonly held notion that children are innocents. They are atrocities, violations of our preconceived ideas. Hence, creepy as all hell.

3. Accidentally Evil Child
These are children that commit evil due to an external force. Regan from The Exorcist is probably the best known of these, but the one I want to discuss is the more recent example of The Children. These kids are suffering from an illness that causes them to take delight in murdering the adults around them. The idea is chilling. No matter what you do, no matter how well you raise them, they could still turn on you. There are scenes where the motherly, nurturing instinct is crushed (I mean proper crushed) by the survival instinct. *shudder*

4. Evil Infants that still require nurturing.
Two examples spring instantly to mind, Rosemary's Baby and Grace. In Rosemary's Baby, Rosemary finds herself with Satan’s bun in the oven. In Grace, Madeline wills her stillborn baby back to life, only to find that she doesn't require breast milk so much as breast. The intensely creepy moments in both these films are the moments when you realize that both of them have every intention of caring for their little monsters and raising them to adulthood. The scariest things the infants do is tap into the maternal instincts of some very strong women.

That's what I got so far. Feel free to get the discussion going on anything I've missed or anything you disagree with. Thanks for reading and thanks to Rick for allowing me to guest-post :)”

I want to thank Rachel for going out of her way to make this post and for providing me with some images. I also want to take this opportunity to say… if you want to make a guest post, please, feel free to contact me.

Follow Rachel on Twitter here.
Check out Rachel’s blog here.