10 Recent Films That Really Deserve More Love
5. Come Out And Play
Three years after The Exorcist and eight years before the film adaptation of Children Of The Corn, Spanish director Narciso Ibanez Serrador brought evil children to the screen in Who Can Kill A Child (1976), where two English tourists arrive on an island where the children have killed all the adults. Atmospheric and disturbing, it’s 70s Euro horror at its finest.
Remade 36 years later as Come Out And Play, this version follows the original fairly closely, so viewers expecting instant gratification and jump scares should look elsewhere. Mexican director Makinov (who also wrote, produced, edited and shot the movie) prefers atmosphere and slow burn suspense to violence and gore, and his film has a closed-in, stripped-down feel that’s appropriate for the admittedly slender narrative.
The picture’s claustrophobic feel helps build a sense of mounting dread that pays off (and then some) in the third act, but to reveal any more would be unthinkable. If you’re looking for a small scale picture that knows how to generate thrills with scant resources, you’re better off watching Come Out And Play than the concurrent Paranormal Activity 4.