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[Blu-ray Review] Spanish Horror Classic ‘Who Can Kill a Child?’ Finally Gets a Proper Release

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Tom (Lewis Fiander) and Evelyn (Prunella Ransome), a young British couple, head out on vacation before giving birth to their first child. Their vacation leads them to a small, quiet Spanish island. While the island is gorgeous, something doesn’t feel right. The island appears to be only populated with children. As if that isn’t weird enough the children don’t seem to speak, however, they do giggle. As Tom and Evelyn roam the island looking for anyone over the age of 18 they witness the children all behaving strangely. They soon discover the kids are capable of intense and brutal acts of violence, and before they know they’re forced to ask themselves, who can kill a child?

Who Can Kill a Child? is a fascinating film on many fronts and can have different impacts depending on when in life you watch it. I first watched the film when I was in my late teens, early 20’s and at the time I viewed it as just a straight exploitation film that placed a pair of adults in a world in which children are bloodthirsty killers. My point of view at that time was that of course you’d kill those kids because they’re nothing more than a movie monster, just like any other horror film. They just happen to be kids.

As I’ve gotten older and I’m now into my early 30’s my feelings on the film have changed a bit. I don’t have kids, and I likely never will, but now when I watch it I think to myself, “maybe they should try talking to these kids, because they are kids.” Maybe they just need someone to be nice to them? Can they possibly be monsters? How do they even know what monsters are? They’re too little to fully understand. Right?

Despite my shifting viewpoints on how to handle the kids, my appreciation of the film has only grown. I’ve always enjoyed this movie, but the more I see it the more I become convinced that it is truly a superb piece of filmmaking. The entire subject is quite taboo. Child deaths are always shocking and yet this is a film that is entirely focused on that subject. And even though it is an exploitation film, it’s not really exploitative. Director Narciso Ibáñez Serrador could have just went balls to the wall and had Tom and Evelyn just start taking kids out. That would’ve created a lot more shock value, but he really held off and didn’t have the couple fight back until they had no choice. He made the right choice.

Who Can Kill a Child? is also a gorgeous looking film thanks to the work of José Luis Alcaine. It takes full advantage of Spain’s natural beauty, and while it takes place in one location it was actually shot in 4 of 5 different Spanish locations and is edited together seamless to look like it’s all in one place.


Special Features

The bonus features port over two interviews from the old DVD release. One is with the director Serrador, and he goes in-depth about the writing of the screenplay which he did within four days and claimed to have finished before the novel was written. He also gives some more specifics on the story that are only implied in the film. From Serrador’s POV the children are the protagonist, being forced to fight back against adults because they are responsible for all of humanity’s troubles. The second interview is with DP Alcaine and he talks about working with Serrador and even dives into his work with Pedro Almodóvar. The new stuff included on this Blu-ray are a commentary with Samm Deighan and Kat Eillinger, an interview on killer kids with Kim Newman and the 46-documentary Version Espanola. The commentary and doc dive into the specifics themes represented in the film, while Newman uses his wealth of knowledge to educate us on the history of killer kids in films. Newman makes a fantastic point about how Brian Taylor’s Mom and Dad is almost the opposite version of Who Can Kill a Child? where the tables are completely flipped.

The film is presented in both English and Spanish and with a brand-new 4K transfer from the film negatives. It’s a stunning presentation that looks a lot better than the old DVD. This is a rare horror film in that it takes place entirely during the day making for a very bright film, and this new transfer cleans up a lot of the old DVD’s issues and provides a lot more clarity and detail.

Who Can Kill a Child? is a landmark Spanish horror film from the 70’s. While it may share similarities with other horror entries about killer kids, it is a cut above the rest.

Who Can Kill a Child? is now available on region free Blu-ray from Mondo Macabro.

Chris Coffel is originally from Phoenix, AZ and now resides in Portland, OR. He once scored 26 goals in a game of FIFA. He likes the Phoenix Suns, Paul Simon and 'The 'Burbs.' Oh and cats. He also likes cats.

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‘Herencia Diabólica’ – 1993’s “Mexican Child’s Play” Finally Has a Blu-ray Release [Review]

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Did you know that there is a Child’s Play-inspired film from Mexico? If you didn’t, you can thank Vinegar Syndrome’s new label Degausser Video for making 1993’s Herencia Diabólica available for the masses to watch. Or at least for the VS hardcore fanbase, Chucky completists and anyone else who needs something like this in their lives.

Director Alfredo Salazar, known for his writing connection to the 70s Santo film series, also serves as the writer here to bring us a film seemingly inspired from the Child’s Play franchise. While it has been recently labeled as the “Mexican Child’s Play” (there’s a special feature on the disc with that very title), the killer doll concept is where the comparison should start and end. Despite having some seeds planted by that franchise, Salazar delivers a story that blossoms into something unique.

Tony (Roberto Guinar) receives a letter informing him that his aunt has died, and he has inherited her estate in Mexico. He quits his job and uproots his life in New York with his wife Annie (Holda Ramírez) to relocate south of the border and move into his new crib. Now I know what you’re thinking, what person just quits their job and drags their wife to another country without having reliable monetary income? Tony does, everyone, Tony does.

And what’s the first thing they do once they arrive in Mexico and check out the estate? They hit the bedroom, naturally. We are treated to a sex scene with an erotica song that feels like a knockoff of “Sadness” by Enigma (remember them?). Sounds fun and all, but the scene takes place completely in the dark and we see absolutely nothing. Maybe that’s why the sexy-time tune was pumping, so we could know what was exactly going down.

While Tony goes on a job interview, Annie explores the estate’s grounds in a tedious chore to experience, going room by room, plodding along. But it does lead us to her discovery of our antagonist—the evil clown doll, Payasito! Of all the things in the house, she decides to bring this monstrosity down to show Tony when he gets home. What an exciting way to celebrate (sic)! Then out of nowhere, she spouts off some exposition about rumors that Tony’s aunt dabbled in the dark arts and now we know where our title Diabolical Inheritance (the English translation for Herencia Diabólica) originates. For those of you who keep score for things like that.

Before proceeding with this review, you really need to visualize what Payasito looks like to truly embrace the rest of the film’s shenanigans. While Chucky resembles a cute ginger child, Payasito resembles a small clown that is much larger in stature than Chucky. That’s because Payasito is performed by an actor (Margarito Esparaza) in clown cosplay whenever he’s on the move (like Mannequin 2), and makes some really horrible facial expressions. Chucky dresses in “Good Guys” overalls and a striped shirt, but Payasito wears a new wave Santa hat while sporting a Sgt. Pepper jacket and Peter Pan tights. As you can now tell, he is quite beautiful.

Back to our story, Payasito begins to spook Annie cerebrally until she becomes unnerved to the point of having a complete mental break down, making her easy prey to eliminate. She dies but the unborn child survives, with Tony believing that her death was caused by her mental instability. Fast forward some years later and the couple’s surviving spawn has grown into child Roy (Alan Fernando), who at this point has already bonded with Payasito to help him over the loss of his mother. Dun-dun-duuunnn!

Meanwhile wealthy Tony remains single, still grieving his late wife, until his blonde assistant Doris encourages him to move on with his life and start seeing other people. And by other people, she naturally means herself. As the old Kanye West song lyric goes, “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger…”, and it seems that she might be until we learn more about her character. Doris is played by the stunning Lorena Hererra who has an extremely extensive resume in Mexico, and she carries most of the film quite well during the feature’s second half. The singer and former Playboy centerfold for their Mexico edition is by far the most recognizable face in the cast.

Doris and Tony do indeed hookup and she moves into La casa de Herencia, where she does her best to impress Roy and lessen his obsession with the doll. There is a scene where they go to a nearby park without Payasito that is filled with famous fairytale figures, such as Pinocchio, Cinderella and King Kong! What, you didn’t know King Kong is a fairytale? Me neither. But Roy continues to be obsessed with Payasito after their trip, much to Doris’ chagrin.

Her actions to separate him from Roy gets Payasito angry, setting up the film’s most memorable scene. We already know that Payasito is a devil doll like Chucky, but now we learn he also has the power to invade people’s dreams like Freddy Krueger! Does Payasito enter the dream world and concoct a creative way to kill Doris in her sleep? No, he harnesses his power to sexually assault her instead. Yes that actually happens. After she awakens, Doris grabs the doll and tosses him into a lake, only to find him waiting for her by the time she gets back to the house. So now we know he also maintains the ability to “transport” like Jason Voorhees too. This doll is the total package!

More insanity happens before we close out the film with the longest victim chase sequence ever. It makes the previously mentioned painful house search scene seem like an eyeblink. It feels like it’s the film’s entire third act, filled with so much padding that you could soundproof an entire three-story house.

So how’s the transfer? Considering it was created using a mix of VHS and film source elements from 1993, they did one heck of a job! The work they put into it is especially noticeable in the dream invasion sequence, with the pulsing multi-colored psychedelic visuals. Super trippy stuff. Even the film’s score provides a pretty chill vibe, during the times when Payasito isn’t on the prowl.

If anything you read has piqued your interest in the very least, you should give it a shot. But if not, it is best to leave this doll on the shelf.

Herencia Diabólica is now available to purchase at VinegarSyndrome.com.

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