Being a huge fan of the original Village of the Damned, I was excited to finally see this sequel. I have owned the DVD for years now and wasn't sure what was holding me back from seeing it. Although it is worth a look, Children seems to be lacking something and is a subpar sequel.
Maybe it's because this really isn't a sequel but more of a re-telling. A bunch of intelligent children from around the world are gathered in London by scientists and psychologists for study. But soon they all escape from their embassy's and gather in an abandoned church to be with one another and stay safe. When the military is brought in, the children put their powers of mind control to use.
I really enjoyed the opening as the main child Paul is introduced. He is a quiet and yet intelligent kid and when his mother is confronted about her son, she later cries and screams at Paul saying how much she hates him and what he's done to her. This is a really tense and almost disturbing scene, thus never showing or telling us what he did to his mother. But as the film goes along, the kids are soon portrayed as victims and the film gets bogged down with political undetones, throwing away the good old fashion suspense and horror that we got from the original film. Don't bore me with messages and politics! Keep that shit out of my horror movies.
For some reason, the sequel abandons the idea of the kids growing at a rabid state and that they all have white hair. Aside form their glowing eyes, no mention at all of the original film or how these kids came about (especially since they all got blown up at the end of the original).
But I will say the direction is well done and the film isn't bad by any means. It is just kind of plain and the horror is watered down this time around. When asked why the children are here, they answer, "We don't know." That was a good sign that this film didn't know either what it wanted to be.
Man of a Thousand Faces
The great Lon Chaney from London After Midnight
