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| Special Features: |
Scene Selection.
Bio and Filmography of Bob Clark and Alan Ormsby.
Photo gallery.
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| Video Format: |
Widescreen (1.85:1)
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| Languages: |
English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
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| Captions: |
None.
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| Casing: |
1-Disc Keep Case
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There was a boom in horror movies during the early 1970s. Everybody and their brother was making one it seemed. Some were good, some bad. Some were just strange. One of the strange ones was Benjamin (Bob) Clark's "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things." Two years later Clark made one of the scariest slasher films of all time, "Black Christmas" with Margot Kidder, Olivia Hussy and Keir Dullea. That film was made possible by the success of "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things." Cowritten and starring Alan Ormsby, "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things" is a derivative of George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead." While not nearly as ground breaking or original, "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things" has some genuinely frightening scenes.
Emerson (Robert Phillips) gets it. One of the film's scariest images. |
The plot revolves around a troupe of actors who are brought to a south Florida island so their wacked out leader Alan (Alan Ormsby) can dabble in the occult. Alan threatens his actors with life in the unemployment line if they don't go along with his shenanigans. Leonard Maltin calls Ormsby's performance "one of the most obnoxious in film history." In fact that quote is used as promotional material on the DVD box! It is an obnoxious performance.
The island has a cemetery and the ground's keeper's shack. Alan wants to raise the dead. The cast watches as Alan performs his ritual, which doesn't seem to work. Dejected that Satan has failed to hear his pleas, Alan and the cast returns to the house. They take with them, the corpse of Orville (Seth Sklarey). Alan has witty conversation with the corpse, and humiliates his actors when they show disgust with his ghoulish tendencies. Turns out that the ritual did work. The corpses rise from the graveyard and go hunting for some fresh meat.
Terry (Jane 'suger nipples' Daly) and Anya (Anya 'I'm as annoying as my husband' Ormsby) |
Once Ormsby's bad acting moves from center stage and the zombies attack, the film takes off and
provides some genuine frights. The final section when the house is under siege is quite good.
Before the dead rise, all the film has going for it are the perky breasts and obviously erect
nipples of Terry (Jane Daly).
Ormsby went on to have a modicum of success as a screen writer. "My Body Guard" and the remake of "The Cat People" being the most notable. All in all, "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things" is a big cheese ball with a ghoulish center.
A problematic disc. For fans of the genre, it is nice to see this title available on DVD, however there are problems with the picture and sound.
Picture Quality: 7/10
There are red and yellow discoloration on the right side of the picture for a large part of the film. This gets annoying at times, but it does add a little atmosphere once the dead rise!
Sound Quality: 8/10
A little better than the picture, but I did have to pause and go back to catch a few lines.
Menu: 6/10
Nothing special. Easy to navigate. The chapter selections do have photo images.
Extra Features: 5/10
Again, nothing special. The photo gallary consists of Lobby Cards, for those of you old enough to remember what they were! The bio's are informative, but nothing you can't get off of IMDB.
The Final Word:
I like this stuff, so I'm glad I have the disc. I guess this was the best transfer VCI could achieve, becuase this film will have to stand in line ot be restored. The ending has some real frights. Not up to par with Clark's "Black Christmas." For those who like the genre, it's worth the price of admission. Others may want to rent.
Rusty White
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