The Children, 1980

 

Well, Kaufman, Hertz, and the Troma Team are back with an unique new take on a then-still fairly young genre! Oh, hey! Pun!

So, synopsis: In the fictitious town of Ravensback, Massachusetts, a school bus carrying five children passes through a noxious yellow cloud that was emitted from a haphazardly repaired nuclear plant. Result - The Children become atomic, undead, killing machines!!!

Now, before you get too excited, I should explain. Way back in 1980, Troma decided to do a 180º revamp on the Zombie Genre… Well, maybe not 180º, but a solid 90º left! 

You see, the children-zombies kill by touching. They call out “Mama,” (or whatever the intended victim’s name is,) and reach out for an apparent hug. The resulting embrace leaves the victim smoldering, and dead, and covered with what appear to be radiation burns. So, there's that.

What’s more, the dead stay dead - there is no Zombism transference.

The children-zombies ARE dead, (as Sheriff Billy proved by blasting 9-year-old Jenny through the chest without a second's  hesitation!) but retain some consciousness, as evidenced by the aforementioned calling out for loved ones, and evading and hiding when being hunted. Aside from this, they tend to move in a nice, creepy, silent-corpsey way.

And, in a very bizarre twist of events, however, they can only be killed by the cutting off their hands! Yup. You read that right, the hands.

You see, in full Zombie, hunting-mode, the children-zombie’s fingernails are black. When sleeping, dead, or ‘disarmed,’ (see what I did there?) their nails are the natural color. No notice of this was made by victims or survivors, but a show of this was made of this for the viewers' attention.

So what we get here is a very unusual entry into the genre, with the term ‘Zombies’ is used in a "well, technically,"-type of definition. The Children does display a fairly unique premise, (even if the ‘toxic waste’ thing is pretty cliché by now,) and some genuinely suspenseful moments. 

    Also, the acting was decent and no overtly stupid decisions were made to progress the story, (obviously a pet peeve of mine.) The film moved along nicely, and despite being a Troma production, the kills were mostly bloodless and gore-free. And, hey! We even get a 'Stronghold attempt' scene! 

On The Zombie Movies Rubric, The Children racked up a solid 2 out of 4 points. This may not be what your common Zombie Movies fan is looking for, but as a late-night, early 80s, hour flick, it’s an enjoyable watch.

YouTube video of the movie trailer, here: The Children