Come Out And Play - Will's Review

My reviews of late have followed 2 patterns; they have been late, and they have been short.

Sadly, this is not the review to buck those trends.

For the lateness, I can only apologise; for the brevity, I feel I have an excuse.

This movie is a remake of week 99's "Who Can Kill a Child?", and in a perfect allegory for the film itself, a full length review would be much like that one, with all the same problems as its predecessor, and any changes would probably result in losing many of the best bits.



So yeah, this is mostly the exact same film; didn't do a side-by-side comparison, but I think bits of it could even be shot-for-shot, and the bits that they changed either didn't need changing, or were changed for the worse.

The original earned a recommendation from both of us; but it wasn't a perfect film. A remake of a good, but not perfect, film is a great opportunity; If  they'd fixed the pacing and made the characters a little bit smarter, this could have been a great film, and surpassed the original.

Sadly, the pacing and stupidity remains, and the moralising about children suffering at the hands of adults is gone, taking with it a lot of the point of the movie. Creepiness has also been replace with gore; not that this is a splatter movie, by any stretch, but one or two moments have been ramped up, and lost thier atmosphere in the process.

All in all, not a terrible film, but far from a good one, and it's been done better. Stick to the original.

Come Out And Play - Lisa's Review

This is a remake of the original Who Can Kill A Child? which we have already reviewed as part of 'Beyond Nasty'.  While we both enjoyed the original movie (read the review above for the premise), I have to say for me at least, this movie falls very far short.

Quite often you see a remake and think.... why?  What was the point in that?  Sometimes you hear a movie is going to be remade and you think... it may be ok, I'll give it a chance.  I was in the latter camp, having enjoyed the original but not having put it on some kind of pedestal, that the idea of a remake would have been abhorrant.

Sooo, why was I unimpressed?  Well the remake added nothing at all, so I struggle with the need for a remake.  As far as I could see, the only difference was a few more graphic images, which ironically were not as strong as the lack of a clear view in the original.  Images include the repeated stabbing and pelting with rocks of an elderly man who is being dragged through the street by his feet.  This ends with a rock being dropped on his head from a great height.  In the original movie, the old guy was actually used as a piñata by the kids and although the images were nowhere near as graphic, to me it seemed more sadistic and twisted to be using someone as an actual plaything.

We also see the body of a young woman which has had its faced pretty well caved in and its abdomen cut open and most of its contents removed.  The children are playing with the body and seem to have no squeamishness at all.  One girl actually wears severed fingers and ears as a necklace.


Maybe I shouldn't compare the 2 movies and review 'Come Out And Play' as a movie in its own right.  If I do that, I'm afraid, I would only find at best a pretty average movie.  Although the premise is a good one, a lot of the poignancy is lost for me with the lack of any kind of empathy inspired by the two movie leads and a pretty dire performance.   I also find it pretty near impossible to forget I have seen a much better version of the movie.  You know what they say.... what has been seen, cannot be unseen.

The original movie had its faults of course, which are replicated in this remake, like the stupidity of the characters throughout.  Decisions made and reactions seemed then, and seems in this, ridiculous.  Somehow it seemed forgivable in the first movie due to its plus points in other areas, but in this movie it's just damn irritating.

Another big negative for me about this movie is the lack of explanation or back story for the actions of the children.  In the first movie, we had the harrowing documentary footage by way of explanation as to how these children could have evolved to be how they are, but in this movie, we have no idea why they set about killing all the adults they encounter.  What before was a basis of a movie and added food for thought, here was completely missing.

In short, I definately wouldn't recommend this movie.  If you like the sound of the story, go and watch the original 'Who Can Kill A Child?'.  Don't waste your time on this sub-standard rehash.

Week 112 - Come Out and Play

Year: 2012

Reviews / Author Comments due: 13/07/13

Reason for Inclusion: Remake of possibly once listed as a Video Nasty "Who Can Kill A Child"

BBFC Status: Passed uncut in 2013

More Info: IMDB

DVD: LINK

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Feel free to use the comments section of this post to add your own reviews and thoughts about this movie.