Exactly What It Says on the Tin, Who Can Kill a Child? (or ¿Quién puede matar a un niño?), aka Island of the Damned is a 1976 Spanish horror movie about an English couple who visits an island inhabited by Creepy Children—and no one else. Turns out the kids just finished butchering almost every adult on the island, which makes lovebirds Tom (Lewis Flander) and Evilyn (Prunella Ransom), and one or two other survivors, marked for death. To survive, the adults may have to answer the chilling question "who can kill a child?"
A near Shot-for-Shot Remake, titled Come Out and Play, was released 2012.
This film provides examples of:
- Creepy Child: The island full of them, the creepiest of whom is a young mop-haired boy who blankly stares off into the sunset while fishing with human remains. The most horrible thing the children do is hang an old man like a pinata, and swipe at him with a scythe until they chop his head off. It's later explained that the children turned into psychopaths because of something in the island’s air. It’s also shown that they can manipulate other kids just by staring into their eyes.
- Enfant Terrible: The children on the island started murdering all the adults until only they remained, and they go off to recruit other children for their killing spree. The only explanation for their psychotic behavior is that one of the initial survivors claimed that there was a virus in the air that only affected the children, and that it may be causing them to act like that.
- Fetus Terrible: An ambiguous case in that Evelyn dies believing that her fetus has killed her from the inside, but it's ultimately never proven.
- Imperiled in Pregnancy: Evelyn is 7 months pregnant at the start of the film. Her pregnancy hampers quick movement and ups the drama, particularly when she starts believing that the fetus has gone murderous as well. And she might be right.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Some of the tensest parts of the film come in the beginning, before any kids show up.
- Space Whale Aesop: Treat children better OR THEY'LL KILL YOU ALL!
Alright, put your hand down already!
