The Children: I want five of each,please!

You could set the dinner table with the films that inspired The Children, a film written by Tom Shankland and Paul Andrew Williams and  directed by Tom Shankland. There's a plate of The Devil Times Five, a bowl of Who Can Kill a Child?, and a cup of The Bad Seed. I'm a sucker for mood, and Shankland's film is drenched in it! We are introduced to a family holiday get together within the first few minutes of the film. As soon as you meet the children, you automatically feel a sense of dread that foreshadows something unpleasant. The children become ill, vomit some sort of pear-like substance and paint the snow red with their parents blood( another thing I'm a sucker for). Now,I'm not one hundred percent sure what causes the children to turn on their parents( maybe I should watch it again) but it's pretty frightening to think of your child turning against you. The question arises,would you be able to kill your child if you were put in a position where you would have to? Sure it's a question that's been asked many times before, but Shankland knows how to ask the question with such grace and suspense that it's like the first time you've ever heard it. The film is not at all uplifting(would you expect it to be?) and is laced with many unsettling moments. Shankland must've baked the MPAA a slamming apple pie to let him get away with some of the child violence exhibited here. Any harm inflicted on a child is a no-no here in the states, and Shankland doesn't give a shit and spills the red on these six and seven year olds and then some! I'm glad someone had the balls to make a film like this. Definitely recommended!