| ||||||||||||||||||||||
MALL.ShopperFavorites.com
Best Prices
Shopper Favorites Web Search |
DVD : The Children |
- Not ironically goodThis is probably one of the few Troma productions I can call good and mean it unironically. I appreciate the idea behind Troma and always feel good about its very existence, but for the most part they keep to cheesy horror flicks that I just can't take seriously.
This one's pretty good, though. It's one part Village of the Damned, one part Romero, a touch of The Incredible Shrinking Man, and a tad of the usual Troma-tic effects (rubbery burn marks and gratuitous nudity). It follows a story about a bunch of kids who are on a schoolbus one day when it drives through a radioactive cloud, transforming into near-zombie killing machines.
In general it's a creepy and entertaining horror film, very reminiscent of fun 40s horror movies but with a better cinematographer. I actually really liked watching how the filmmakers moved the camera and composed the shots. I think some of the things they did were very original and interesting.
If it wasn't for the cheesy way the kids die and some of the lesser-rounded moments of acting and dialog, I'd say it's a really good film. Heck, as it goes it's one of the more horrifying movies I've seen, merely because it's not overstuffed with thick flashy editing and crazy digital effects, much more willing to linger on a shot of something horrific than just move along and act as if the audience must be sent into an epileptic seizure instead of scared.
At any rate it's made me realize that maybe some things Troma might not be half bad.
Edit: Since the transfer seems like a hot-button issue on Amazon, I thought I'd put in my two bits: The way I understand it, Troma has NEVER had money. Ever. I met Lloyd Kaufman once and he talked a lot about how hard it was to get these projects off the ground and how he wouldn't be able to do it if he wasn't so dedicated about it. And here these people are freaking out because the DVD isn't a pristine print. Listen... I could see the image (even on the poorly lit scenes) and I could understand the dialog. The image and sound are a LOT better than a lot of DVD prints I have seen. Seriously, what do ya people expect, anyway?
It adds to the experience... seriously, like finding an old warped record player in the attic that hardly works and listening through the hisses and pops to what remains of the music on the scratched vinyl. In a bizarre way this is how old horror classics are meant to be seen.
--PolarisDiB
Rating:
- So bad it's good!It may seem like a nice day for a group of kids on a school bus going home, unfortunately there is a radioactive fog created by a nuclear power plant that gets in the bus's way. It has a deadly side effect which involves changing the kids into deadly pale-faced atomic zombies with black finger nails and if they hug anyone they would literally fry them, the adults start to panic as they must battle these sinister kids into trying to find a way to stop them.
Entertaining and somewhat silly low budget Sci-fi/horror flick with an interesting plot and some shocks. The acting with some of the special effects are kind of bad but the film is a riot and easy to make fun of "MST3K"-style at home, this was one of the highest grossing movies in the summer of 1980! it was discontinued on video for 25 years and has been a hard-to-find flick until now as Troma has finally re-issued this movie on DVD.
The DVD has an ok if somewhat bad picture and sound quality but there's some good extra like audio commentary by writer and producer Carlton J. Albright, introduction by Troma founder Lloyd Kaufman, Trailers to other Troma flicks, Tromadance short, interview with Carlton J. Albright, a featurette, and interview with Gil Roger and Patrica Albright.
Also recommended: "The Toxic Avenger", "Night of the Living Dead ( 1968 and 1990)", "The Crazies", "Beware! Children at Play", " Class of Nuke'Em High", " Dawn of the Dead ( 1978 and 2004)", " The Pit", "Children of the Corn", "Battle Royale", "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie", "Pet Semetary", "Bloody Birthday", "Sleepaway Camp", " Bio-Zombie", "28 Days Later", "Halloween", "Nightmare City ( a.k.a. City of the Walking Dead)", "The Stuff", "Return of the Living Dead Trilogy", "Final Destination", "C.H.U.D", "Slugs" and "It's Alive".
Rating:
- The fact that it is on DVD at all is a miracle...Don't listen to all the naysayers. While the DVD film quality is far from perfect, it's nowhere near as bad as most people say. Pick up St. Clair Vision's release of "Pieces" to see a horrendous transfer (but at least that's on DVD, too). There are a lot of scratches and dirt on the print, but this is a grindhouse exploitation movie. I don't want to see a THX certified print of it. I want to see it the way it was seen over 25 years ago. A GOOD print with GOOD sound and nice extras that Troma took the time to film and release with the DVD. There are still a ton of other exploitation gems that remain unreleased and people are bitching about a "sub-par" non-remastered disc of a movie most people have never heard of? I think my $17.99 (Amazon price plus shipping) was well spent and you should feel yours will be, too.
Rating:
- The ChildrenI was so excited about the DVD release of "The Children" This is one of my favorite childhood films. I cannot believe what Troma did to this classic. If the cheesy introduction didn't make you mad the copy will. I have never seen such a horrible Remaster or as they call it. It is utterly impossible to believe that they had gotten one of the "only surviving prints" of this movie. Considering it was shown in over 3000 movie theaters when released. My hope is that another print will surface; and another company gets ahold of it; and finally gives this classic movie the proper DVD release it deserves.
Rating:
- The ChildrenNot one of Troma's better movies as I have quite a few. It was different. It was ok. Dale.
MALL.ShopperFavorites.com
|