This little known piece may as well be a dream come true for any run-of-the-mill horror fan: a scarcely populated setting, characters whom are easy to identify with, a cosy hamlet which doesn't veer too much into an overtly rural landscape, a spooky atmosphere brought to life by the lighting and suitable sound effects. The guys in charge of this masterpiece knew exactly what they wanted to convey given the apparently limited resources they had to work with.
The candid start to this glorious movie belies the much more sinister turn of fortune that befalls the unfortunate title characters. A busload of young students is thrown off track by a noxious cloud of fumes issuing from the local power plant, left unattended by the two rednecks in charge. The effects of the toxic cloud poisoning are not evident at first. Actually, the viewer has to wait a hefty portion of movie time before getting to know what happened to the bedazzled students. What goes on in the meanwhile is basic character building, some meaningless interactions thrown in to lay the groundwork for the movie's major draw card: the children have been turned into mindless zombie-like murderous entities by the toxic cloud. They wander about without urgency to any particular destination. But upon catching sight of a (uncontaminated) human being, they home in on their helpless victim and engage them in a loving embrace. Except that there is nothing loving about this as the hugged person is immediately roasted to death within seconds. Driven by an inexplicable will to seek out and kill anyone they can find, they start picking off the inhabitants of our doomed small town, one by one.
 |
| Giving a new meaning to the expression "chop chop". |
Since adults are usually oblivious to killings being perpetrated by kids, they remain clueless about whom to blame. It wasn't until a plucky deputy witnesses first hand the demonic powers wielded by the previously missing children. Merely touching one of these fiends' hands during a brief encounter causes horrible third degrees to his hand. He retreats into his partner's house while the young antagonists lay siege to the residence. They try to sneak in by a number of ways, but are always thwarted by the efforts of the accosted adults. Soon, the surviving members of the improvised anti-child army start fighting back. They at first resort to flat out shooting down the assailing bastards, to no avail. Not only have they acquired powers of demonic molecule agitation, they have been rendered impervious to most means of attack. It's not until one of the unflappable lawmen picks up a sword conveniently hanging from a nearby and chops off an approaching child's hands that they find an appropriate way to ward off the incoming menace. The impish aggressor dies instantly, letting off an unholy growl while dropping off to the ground and lying peacefully down there, like a child asleep should. Only that he's not asleep, he's dead. They go on an improptu chase to hunt down their remaining opponents, until the last one is sent to the Hell that spawned them.
 |
| Wane complexions + reflection of fear = true horror |
This is a movie that hits on all the right cylinders for viewers looking for a no-nonsense horror movie experience. The atmosphere is overall dark and serious in tone, the earlier victims of the imps' gloomy designs are unaware they're in danger until it's too late and there is very little comedy relief ---the few comedic moments might as well be unintentional as seen mostly by the yokels bickering among themselves during low-key scenes. Another semi-serious segment is the younger sheriff's companion putting his moves on a barely legal hottie. The flitting nature of their interaction provides a form of relief, however short, from the terrifying premise of the major plot.
 |
| I remember when this first came out and the advertisement alone scared me. |
No comments:
Post a Comment