Writer: Makinov
Director: Makinov
Come out… Come out… Wherever you are!
Come Out And Play is a remake of Who Can Kill A Child (1976) which in turn was based on a novel by Juan José Plans.
The story revolves around Francis (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and his pregnant wife Beth (Vinessa Shaw). Whilst on holiday they hire a boat to take them to a nearby island for a few days. When they arrive they find the place deserted except for children. Initially they put this down to the after-effects of the recently finished carnival, however it soon becomes apparent that something far worse is going on; the night before something happened to all the children who began murdering the adults.
It’s an interesting idea and the basic point is captured in the title of the original film: Who can fight back against and even kill children? Especially when they’re your own children? Is survival worth that cost?
There’s a clear problem filming something like this: you can’t easily have child actors performing the gruesome acts you want. However smart editing gets round this and there are some distinctly nasty scenes.
What no amount of clever editing can get round is a total lack of atmosphere. The set-up and the killer children should be really creepy and menacing, in fact it’s all rather pedestrian. Excessively loud ‘fear’ music and shaky camerawork simply make things worse.
The last ten minutes are actually pretty good, but for the other eighty Come Out And Play is just dull.