The Film (5/5)

    Tom (Lewis Fiander, Doctor Jekyll and Sister Hyde) and Evelyn (Far from the Maddening Crowd) are taking a trip to an island in Spain before Evelyn gives birth to their child. When they arrive at a remote village that Tom had longed to re-visit since his youth they find it deserted with the exception of children. Soon after they see a little girl brutally assault an old man with a cane, and begin to suspect something darker, more sinister is going on in this remote  village. However, they don't have much time to think about as the children begin to assault them, and they must run and and hide for their own protection.  Of course, the brutality of the children is making is so that Tom and Evelyn may have to attack the kids to defend themselves, but as title says "Who Can Kill A Child?"

    OK, so wow!?! I'll admit this has long been on my watch list, but being that it's impossible to see EVERYTHING, it sort of got away from me. Now that I've seen it, I really wish I had made it a priority, because this films is truly tremendous, and a real masterpiece of Spanish horror cinema. One can, obviously see comparisons to films like Village of the Damned, and its influence on the far lesser Children of the Corn, but the fact is Who Can Kill a Child? is truly its own darkly, powerful, and disturbing experience.

    The film in its uncut version opens with some harsh and disturbing mondo footage of children being tortured in various ways (like Nazi concentration camp footage, children starving, etc). When this came on I knew I was in for something a bit different, and it honestly made it a bit of a hard watch getting through this portion (note, this footage is not included in the truncated Island of Death version). However, its use is effective at showing the historical atrocities that have happened to children in the 20th century, which also may have influenced the behavior of this particular group of kids.   The film then segues into dead bodies washing up in a Spanish resort community where our 2 protagonists are beginning their not quite relaxing vacation.

    After the mondo opening and the bodies washing up, the film takes a little bit of time to get to the village and get going. During that time director Serrador begins to lay the groundwork for what is to come. However, once the pair get to the hotel things begin to get creepy and intense and remain so for the duration of the film. The interesting thing about this film is the confused state of the protagonist and the characters they meet along the way. Even the ones who have been exposed to the situation and know what it happening seemingly can't bring themselves to hurt the children, either because they are relations, because of their supposed innocence, or because it just is such a taboo thing.  It makes viewers (OK me) want to scream at the screen, as the adults on screen get constantly killed and brutalized by the army of children who will stop at nothing to destroy the adult population of the village.

Audio/Video (4/5)

    Mondo Macabro presents Who Can Kill a Child? in a fantastic looking 1:85:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer.  OK, so apparently in doing a bit of research this one is a bit controversial. However, this is my first time seeing the film, so I'll say that the film itself looked great. Detail was excellent, colors appeared natural, and and grain was organic and fine.  However, apparently the color palette on the Dark Sky DVD edition had more of a "sun baked" look to it, which is a preferred look to viewers, (Though I can't find any information as to whether this is the natural look of the film).

    The audio is a DTS-HD MA track with a mix of Spanish and English depending on the option you choose.  Everything here sounded quite solid with no noticeable issues.

Extras (5/5)

    Mondo Macabro includes the Island of Death truncated version of the film. We also get an elaborate and in-depth commentary by Diabolique's Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan who go into the history that informs the film, the cast, and the director. There is a documentary about the film, an interview with the director and cinematographer, a Kim Newman piece on "Kiler Kids". The Island of Death intro, trailers, and TV spots.

Overall

    Who Can Kill a Child? Is a film whose reputation has long preceded it. It lived up to that reputation and then some. The Blu-ray looks and sounds fantastic, and has a marvelous extras slate.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.