Movie Log: Who Can Kill a Child?

Who Can Kill a Child?
Narciso Ibáñez Serrador
1976

This one comes with a high reputation, and boy, does it live up to it. Who Can Kill a Child? bears a strong similarity to Stephen King's short story, "Children of the Corn." Or maybe it would more accurate to say that King's story bears a strong resemblance to this movie, since "Corn's" first appearance was in 1977 in Penthouse, a year after this movie's release (at least in Spain).

Regardless, apart from the set-up and general plot progression, Child? also boasts a very King-ish supernatural conceit; that of evil in the world manifesting itself in a localized, uncanny incarnation. Here, the location is an isolated island off the coast of Spain. Vacationers Tom (Lewis Fiander) and pregnant wife Evelyn (Prunella Ransome) arrive to find a village nearly abandoned of townsfolk, all except for groups of untalkative yet playful children whose pretty faces and gleeful smiles harbor a sinister agenda.

The movie begins with a long documentary-like section, and uses actual newsreel footage spotlighting atrocities during the Holocaust, the civil war between India and Pakistan, and the Korean War and Vietnam, focusing on the suffering of the children caught in the violence. This is a pretty brazen way to start off what is ostensibly a mere horror/thriller, but to the credit of the writers and director, it sets up the film's theme perfectly.

Most of the violence occurs off-screen, but the movie is no less disturbing for it. In fact, the most unnerving moments come about in the aftermath of the violence. The plot ratchets up the suspense slowly and deliberately, and progresses with an absolute sense of logic. (I will say that Tom and Evelyn really should have decided to get off the island much sooner than they do, but, remember, characters in horror movies don't realize that they're in horror movies, and don't understand danger they're in the way audience does even before the title credits roll. In any case, the movie rewards the willing suspension of disbelief.)

I think if Who Can Kill a Child? had been a North American or British movie, it would be considered a classic on par with Village of the Damned. That's no small praise.