If you know me at all you know I routinely dig on evil children flicks.  It's one of my favorite subgenres. Why? Well, when else do you have the excuse to slaughter children?  Okay, that sounds much more evil than I really am.  The truth is that children are seen as innocents.  They are sweet and lovable and would never do anything so evil as to kill someone, right?  Hee hee wrong in these cases.  And that conflict is what makes them fun.

In the late seventies, one of my favorite evil kid movies came to us courtesy of England.  Godsend is a fun little movie that doesn't get the recognition it deserves, I think.  And now, again, England gives us more fare for those who are of my mind.  These kids are poster children for contraception if ever there were any.

We open with Elain (Eva Birthistle) , her husband Jonah (Stephen Campbell Moore) and their blended family coming in to visit with her sister (Rachel Shelley) and her family over the Christmas/New Year holiday.  Hannah Tointon turns in a notable performance as the teen who'd rather be elsewhere and Jeremy Sheffield is the cool (and adorable) uncle who smokes a little pot in the garden shed.  They live out in the middle of nowhere, in the serenely beautiful snow-covered countryside.  Everything seems so perfect. Perfect families, perfect home, perfect surroundings, perfect puke on the....wait.  What?  Well, young Pauly seems to have become ill after the long car ride.  Surely its just motion sickness.  We won't worry about that right now.

Uh oh.  It seems other children are being affected by this as well.  Motion sickness, my foot.  But the parents don't notice as of yet.  Hell, with four young'uns plus a belligerent teen running around, who could?  Too bad, though.  Maybe noticing would have saved their lives.

worry about that right now.

Uh oh.  It seems other children are being affected by this as well.  Motion sickness, my foot.  But the parents don't notice as of yet.  Hell, with four young'uns plus a belligerent teen running around, who could?  Too bad, though.  Maybe noticing would have saved their lives.  

We get to watch, though.  We notice that as more and more of the children become infected, the others seem frightened of them.  We notice that their "play" is becoming increasingly mean spirited.  We notice that the score is starting to sound like a dagger in our skulls.  Well I'll get back to that.  And the grown ups notice as well, after its too late of course.  

One of my favorite parts of this flick is that when all hell breaks loose among these yuppies and their children, director Tom Shankland hold nothing back.  There is some top notch grue to be found here and I enjoyed every cringe-worthy moment of it.  My only complaint is that by the end of the film, and I  mean the VERY end, you could very well have your hands planted firmly on the sides of your head in an attempt to keep your brains from leaking out.  The shrill music seems almost like an attempt to take you out with the ill-fated parents.  But now that you are warned about that, see it.

There is nothing left to fear except for some particularly ill-mannered tots.

top notch grue to be found here and I enjoyed every cringe-worthy moment of it.  My only complaint is that by the end of the film, and I  mean the VERY end, you could very well have your hands planted firmly on the sides of your head in an attempt to keep your brains from leaking out.  The shrill music seems almost like an attempt to take you out with the ill-fated parents.  But now that you are warned about that, see it.  There is nothing left to fear except for some particularly ill-mannered tots.  

If you like your kids on the evil side, then this is an automatic must see.  If not, you might find comfort in the beautiful blood-on-snow imagery.  It is well made and enjoyable to watch.  The pace never slows and hopefully neither will your pulse.