The Children (1980 film)

The Children (a.k.a. The Children of Ravensback) is a 1980 low-budget horror film, written and produced by Carlton J. Albright. The movie is about five children in a small town who, thanks to a yellow toxic cloud, are transformed into bloodless zombies with black fingernails who microwave every living thing they put their hands on. The surviving adults of the town must attempt to put a stop to them.

This article is about the 1980 film. For the 2006 film, see Wicked Little Things.
The Children
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMax Kalmanowicz
Produced byMax Kalmanowicz
Carlton J. Albright
Written byCarlton J. Albright
Edward Terry
StarringMartin Shakar
Gil Rogers
Gale Garnett
Music byHarry Manfredini
CinematographyBarry Abrams
Distributed byWorld-Northal (original)
Troma Entertainment (current)
Release date
  • June 13, 1980 (1980-06-13)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The film is distributed by Troma Entertainment.

Plot

Jim and Slim, a couple of workers at a chemical plant in the fictional New England town of Ravensback, decide to call it a day and head for the bar. Unfortunately, a large buildup of pressure leaks from one of the pipes that starts to form a yellow toxic cloud that drifts across the ground. Meanwhile, a school bus is taking children home. After dropping one child off, five children are left on the bus.

After Billy Hart, the local sheriff, finds the idling bus abandoned near a cemetery, he radios his deputy and dispatcher. Billy orders a roadblock at the intersection of the main highway and the lone road leading into town, recruiting a couple of armed locals, believing that the children were possibly kidnapped.

While John and Billy are on the road, they encounter Janet Shore standing in the middle of the road, who is dazed like the other zombified children, pale-faced and apparently stunned as they put her in the car to drive her home. It turns out that Janet has not yet fully transformed into a radioactive zombie, but she gradually changes into one during the ride (as evidenced by her fingernails shown turning black). After they stopped, she attacks Sheriff Hart who is able to dodge her while she flees the vicinity.

Eventually, the zombified Ellen, Tommy, and Paul meet and walk together. They are then spotted by the deputy who radios the station, but is soon killed. The three children converge in front of the general store, where the dispatcher comes outside to hug them, but is also roasted to death as her screaming is heard on a police radio dispatcher by John and Billy.

Billy shoots the zombies with his pistol, but the bullets have no effect on them. Cathy, who is still not aware of the children's zombified state, knocks Billy out with a glass object in order to stop him from shooting them. She then finds Clarkie's roasted body and tells John, who runs upstairs and tearfully puts the child's body back to bed.

Paul then attacks the adults, while Billy instinctively picks up a replica katana and chops off both Paul's hands as he howls in pain, which kills Paul as the fingernails on his severed hands revert to normal. Ellen then breaks through one of the windows with one hand, which is immediately severed by Billy and causes her to apparently die. Billy and John then go outside with the sword in hand to find the rest of the zombies. The remaining three zombies, Tommy, Janet and Jenny, converge at the upper level of John's barn where they are found by John and Billy who, despite Jenny's pleas to John, are promptly dismembered and killed.

The next morning, Cathy yells to a still-sleeping John that "it's time". He wakes up and runs frantically into the house to help her deliver their third child. As they are delivering the baby, the camera pans over all of the dead bodies, including Sheriff Hart's (but not Clarkie's). All five of the zombified children are laying down peacefully and hacked up. After the baby is delivered, John is aghast and wide-eyed as he notices that his newborn child has black fingernails while being breastfed by Cathy.

Cast
  • Martin Shakar as John Freemont
  • Gil Rogers as Sheriff Billy Hart
  • Gale Garnett as Cathy Freemont
  • Shannon Bolin as Molly
  • Tracy Griswold as Deputy Harry Timmons
  • Joy Glaccum as Suzie MacKenzie
  • Jeptha Evans as Paul MacKenzie
  • Clara Evans as Jenny Freemont
  • Sarah Albright as Ellen Chandler
  • Nathanael Albright as Tommy Button
  • Julie Carrier as Janet Shore
  • Michelle Le Mothe as Dr. Joyce Gould
  • Edward Terry as Hank
  • Peter Maloney as Frank
  • Jessie Abrams as Clarkie Freemont
  • Rita Montone as Dee Dee Shore
  • John P. Codiglia as Jackson Lane
  • Martin Brennan as Sanford Butler-Jones
  • J.D. Clarke as Jim (hardhat)
  • James Klawin as Slim (hardhat)
  • Arthur Chase as Cyrus MacKenzie
  • Suzanne Barnes as Leslie Button
  • Diane Deckard as Rita Chandler
  • David Platt as Chauffeur
  • Ray Delmolino as Bus driver
  • Michael Carrier as Bob Chandler
  • June Berry as Sally (Waitress)
  • X. Ben Fakackt as Newscaster voice

Release

The Children was given a limited release theatrically in the United States by World Northal in 1980. It was originally released on VHS by Vestron Video in the 1980s. It was later released on VHS by Rhino Home Video on April 11, 1991.[1] The film was released for the first time on DVD in a 25th Anniversary edition by Troma Entertainment on November 8, 2005.[2] It was later released by Videoasia as a part of its five-disk "Grindhouse Experience 20 Film Set" on July 24, 2007.[3] The film was released worldwide December 2018 for the first time ever on Blu Ray by Vinegar Syndrome.

Reception

Upon its theatrical release in 1980 The Children received generally negative reviews. The Los Angeles Times called it a "despicable movie" that "reeks of a nasty, ill-defined dislike of humankind."[4] The Orlando Sentinel deemed the actors "the ugliest bunch of folks we've seen assembled on any screen at any one time."[5] The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette criticized the writing, directing, acting and special effects; the latter slammed for burned bodies looking "exactly like a leftover pepperoni pizza, complete with black olives and anchovies."[6]

Horror film review website Terror Trap awarded the film one and a half out of four stars. Although they called Manfredini's score for the film "somewhat effective", they criticized the film's direction, cast, and low production values.[7] Jonathan Stryker from HorrorNews.net gave the film a slightly positive review, calling it "a predictable, by-the-numbers but somewhat entertaining yarn".[8]

References
  1. "Amazon.com: The Children [VHS]: Martin Shakar, Gil Rogers, Gale Garnett, Shannon Bolin, Tracy Griswold, Joy Glaccum, Jeptha Evans, Clara Evans, Sarah Albright, Nathanael Albright, Julie Carrier, Michelle La Mothe, Barry Abrams, Max Kalmanowicz, Nikki Wessling, Carlton J. Albright, Edward Terry: Movi". Amazon.com. Amazon. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  2. "The Children (DVD)". dvdempire.com. Retrieved 2011-04-19.
  3. "The Children (1980) - Max Kalmanowicz". Allmovie.com. AllMovie. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  4. Gross, Linda (1980-09-30). "Despicable Nature of 'The Children'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2018-10-15.
  5. Johnson, Dean (1980-09-05). "Child's Play: 'The Children' showcase of bad direction, acting". The Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 2018-10-15.
  6. Uricchio, Marylynn (1980-08-23). "'Children' lacks an adult plot". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2018-10-15.
  7. "The Children (1980)". Terror Trap.com. Terror Trap. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  8. Stryker, Johnathan. "Film Review: The Children (1980)". HorrorNews.net. Johnathan Stryker. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
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