Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things
by Bob Clark (III)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Alan Ormsby, Anya Ormsby, Jeff Gillen, Paul Cronin, Valerie MamchesDirector: Bob Clark (III)
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Letterbox, 1.85:1
Running Time: 85 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-06-22
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: VCI Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things
Movie Review: One of Bob Clark's Earliest and Finest
Summary: 3 Stars
There's nothing like watching a low-budget zombie flick from the 70s. While watching this one, I kept expecting a disco ball to lower from the trees and the zombies to start layin' down the moves to "Saturday Night Fever". I'm talking about the clothes these people used to wear back then, what were they thinking!? It's not like you can blame the costume designer, that's just the way people dressed in 1972, unfortunately for them. All 70s clothes aside, this movie was a very pleasant surprise. All 70s clothes aside, this movie was a very pleasant surprise. Legendary director Bob Clark cut his teeth on this film as one of his first, and would later direct such cult-classics as BLACK CHRISTMAS, PORKY'S, and A CHRISTMAS STORY. He would also team up again with writer/actor Alan Ormsby on the film DEATHDRAM (aka DEAD OF NIGHT).
CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS centers on an acting troupe following their not-completely-right-in-the-head director (Alan Ormsby) to a remote burial island. What some people won't do for a big break in Hollywood! I guess it was a good idea at the time..."Hey, let's go to a remote island that's used as a big cemetery. And since we're here, why don't we dig up a corpse?" Alan, the director, is bringing them there to play a big joke. I won't give away what the joke is, but let's just say that it would a pretty boring movie if something didn't go wrong. Alan does his best impression of a warlock and tries to raise the dead while he's there (hey, who wouldn't!). Does he succeed? Just take a guess.
I wasn't very impressed at the beginning of the film, but it definitely grew on me. And once I stopped staring at Alan's multicolored pants (admittedly, that doesn't sound good), you can really get into the feel of the movie. As if under some kind of voodoo charm given off by my TV, I started liking this movie. The cemetery setting that was unimpressive at the start was now getting spookier. The actors playing actors seemed to come into their own. And the music score which had initially annoyed me...well, it still irritated me. Oh that's right, the score never really got any better. It's the only real downer, I think with a better one it could have added to the film's creepy factor.
Alan Ormsby's performance of the director was once described by a critic as "...one of the most obnoxious screen performances in history!". I think it's a bit harsh. He indeed was obnoxious, but in a B-horror flick good kinda way. He does a pretty good job of getting the audience to dislike him. He's more of a dictator then a director, and treats everyone around him like slaves...but of course they let him, so I can't feel sorry for them. The actors are looking for their big break, so hey, what's a little grave robbing if it will further your career. That makes it okay, right? The rest of the crew give good decent performances, but nobody else steps up and makes you take notice. Overall, I give a thumbs up to the acting.
Thumbs go up for the zombies in the film as well. The makeup and effects were pretty good for the low budget and the fact it was 1972, so no complaints there. You get to see zombies with a little bit more strength then you're usually used to. And in the end scene, you see a glimpse of intelligence, or maybe they just lucked up (You'll know what I mean when you see it). If you're a fan of lots of gore, you're not going to get it here. They're just evidently wasn't enough room in the budget for it on this one, as there was little of it. While I'm a fan of well-placed karo syrup and animal entrails as the next guy, it's refreshing to see that to make a decent film you don't need a lot of gore.
Summary of Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things
Though Bob (Benjamin) Clark made his mark on Hollywood with films as diverse as Porky's and A Christmas Story, he began his career with this imaginative zombie tale. Alan Ormsby (who also wrote Paul Schrader's remake of Cat People and directed the cult horror film Deranged) penned the script and stars as Alan, a flamboyant theater director who brings his company--whom he condescendingly refers to as his "children"--to a rotting graveyard on a fogbound island. There he begins a ceremony to raise the dead, but it's all an elaborate practical joke, just another mind game by the would-be demagogue... or so he thinks. As Alan continues his midnight games of manipulation and degradation, it turns out the joke's on him as the graveyard rises to life. The acting, though amateurish, is energetic and delivered with gusto, and the awkward, theatrical dialogue becomes oddly appropriate (if somewhat stiff) in the affected presence of preening Alan. The often-slow extended introduction pays off in a carnage-riddled zombie blowout, like Night of the Living Dead compressed into a half-hour highlight reel. Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things is the work of ambitious beginners, but they deliver the goods when it counts with solid low-budget effects and a well-directed finale that turns the tense humor into unrelenting horror.The DVD mastering is unaccountably sloppy: images jerk and intermittently slow down, the action hiccups, and in the second half red and blue flares rim the right side of the picture. --Sean Axmaker
The SET-UP: Five young kinky actors and their artistic director come to a desolate and nearly forgotten burial island, complete with a morbid history of MURDER, RAPE, CURSES and DEMONS. Alan (Alan Ormsby), the brilliant but bizarre Director of the company, has brought them to this foreboding place to dabble in witchcraft; specifically to dig up a fresh corpse and use it in a ritual ceremony which is supposed to raise the dead from their graves.The PAY-OFF: It seems as though Alan has really gathered his "children" here, only to play a practical joke on them and then to party the rest of the night away. However, the joke's on Alan. His bizarre ritual ceremony really does raise the dead from their graves...only they're in no mood to party! NOTE: "BENJAMIN" CLARK is really "BOB" CLARK, the creative director behind the hit films PORKY'S, BLACK CHRISTMAS and A CHRISTMAS STORY among others. ALAN ORMSBY, though he turned in what has been described as "...one of the most obnoxious screen performances in history!", has actually made a mark for himself as the screenwriter for such memorable films as MY BODYGUARD, CAT PEOPLE, KARATE KID 3 and PORKY'S 2. Bonus Features: Scene Selection| Original Theatrical Trailer| Photo Gallery| Actor Bios. Specs: DVD5; Dolby Digital Mono; 87 minutes; Color; 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio; MPAA - PG; Year - 1972; SRP - $9.99.
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