WHO CAN KILL A CHILD?

(A.k.a. DEATH IS CHILD’S PLAY; ISLAND OF THE DAMNED; QUIEN PUEDE MATAR A UN NINO?; ISLAND OF DEATH; WOULD YOU KILL A CHILD?)

Narciso Ibanez Serrador’s classic 1976 shocker gets a long overdue UK DVD release, courtesy of Eureka ...

It opens in startling fashion, a sepia prologue employing a montage of archive footage – corpses piled up in Auschwitz, children experimented upon and butchered by Nazis, Pakistani youths left homeless and starving in the wake of war ("one child dies every five seconds", an earnest male narrator assures us) etc - to illustrate how juveniles have suffered throughout history at the hands of warring adults. The implication is that enough is enough ...

As the film begins proper, we’re brought into the present tense and the Spanish coast. Seaside holidaymakers are shocked to find a dead body wash up onto shore. It turns out the female has been stabbed several times. But who by, and where did it happen?

Cut to English couple, keen photographer Tom (Lewis Fiander) and pretty, pregnant blonde wife Evelyn (Prunella Ransome), who have chosen to extend their coach trip around Spain by hiring a boat out to the nearby island of Almanzora. You know, the place just across the way from the stretch of beach where a corpse has just washed up ...

Upon the couple’s arrival, however, the idyllic coastal town that they land upon seems unnervingly quiet. The hotel that they were recommended on the mainland doesn’t appear to have any business ... and the shops are disconcertingly silent.

Walking through the deserted streets, Tom captures odd glimpses of life here and there: a shutter going down on a window; the sounds of childlike laughter. But ... where is everyone?

Eventually, the couple do come across some locals. Children, to be precise. The kids won’t talk to their foreign visitors. They simply offer them bizarre smiles before running away giggling.

Tom believes the townsfolk may have gone away to celebrate a regional Siesta. He decides the pair of them should stay and make themselves comfortable with whatever groceries they can lay their hands on.

But the sense of unease is still there, a tacit concern shared by them both.

And, guess what? They’re right to be afraid ...

Following the shocking true-footage prologue, WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? settles into a fairly languid pace for its first third, introducing us to its protagonists and building a sense of eeriness that suggests bad things to come even when nothing much is happening.

The sense of isolation is magnificent; the cinematography, long shots and wide open locations are put to excellent use. From the get-go, the film is ripe with atmosphere.

Once the true horror of the island’s disposition is revealed, the film ups several gears and becomes a full-on horror show with scares, jumps, tension and minor gore all the way to the disturbing finale.

Well acted, perfectly paced and shot, and possessing a commendably grim tone from beginning to end, the film is rightfully considered a classic of its era – and is without doubt one of the best ‘creepy kids’ films ever made.

WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? is presented uncut – with its infamous and troubling prologue, as mentioned at the top of this review, intact (it was excised from many theatrical prints). Thank goodness: without the prologue, the film plays with an entirely different intent.

Presented in 1.85:1 and enhanced for 16x9 televisions, colours are natural-seeming and images are sharp. It’s a very good, clean presentation of a film of this age and relative unavailability. The texture is film-like, blacks are stable (though there is not much darkness in the film) and detail is pleasing. Occasional softness is not a distraction, nor is particularly surprising to see in a 70s horror film transfer.

I read elsewhere (DVD Beaver) that the print differs to that used on Dark Sky’s release, insofar as the one utilised here has a more natural seeming colour scheme and greater detail. I did a quick back-to-back check and agree that this is the case. They also made mention of the fact that this release appears to crop the film on all four sides, but this is very marginal indeed – it’s virtually invisible to the naked eye, and certainly doesn’t deprive you of any important detail.

English mono audio is clear and consistent throughout. There’s no Spanish track provided, as per the Dark Sky release, but that’s okay: the lead actors speak English anyway, and the director’s favoured language was always English for this film. Easily readable and well-written English subtitles are optional.

There is occasional Spanish dialogue in the film even in the English version (TV broadcasts, Tom’s attempts at speaking with the kids, etc). These are equipped with English subtitles.

A static main menu page leads into a static scene-selection menu allowing access to the film via 15 chapters.

Special features begin with "Child Director", a good 9-minute interview with Serrador. Smoking on his pipe throughout, he speaks carefully but with authority about his most celebrated film (he also directed THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED, also crying out for a UK DVD release). He discusses how his screenplay differs from Juan Jose Plans’ source novel, the moral implications of making a film where children explicitly suffer, working with the talented cinematographer Jose Luis Alcaine, and more.

Next up, we get an interview with Alcaine himself. This runs for 16 minutes and is entitled "Who Can Shoot A Child?". He sees the film as falling somewhere between NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and THE BIRDS – and you can see his reasoning behind this.

Both featurettes are in Spanish with English subtitles, and were originally produced by Severin boss David Gregory for inclusion on Dark Sky’s disc.

The gallery that was included as an extra on the Dark Sky release is not present.

But, with a really healthy picture and sound quality and a couple of nice contextual interviews as accompaniment, this is a great film to finally see uncut on UK DVD.

Recommended.

Review by Stuart Willis