I love indie horror films for so many reasons. I think that lower budget movies have to be creative on how they can save money and create something effective enough to scare people. I honestly believe there is absolutely no need for a big budget, in order to scare the shit out of the audience. Time and time again, this is proven by so many amazing indie horror films. The movie, There’s Something Wrong With The Children directed by Roxanne Benjamin, is one of the best indie horror films I’ve seen in a long time. The premise is creative and the filmmaking is phenomenal. Roxanne is brilliant behind the camera and creates an absolutely terrifying environment. This is a movie that will for sure stick with me throughout the entire year. It perhaps will even hold a top spot at my end of the year best horror films list. The movie follows two couples on a weekend trip with one of the couples that have their kids with them as well. As soon as the kids disappear overnight, strange things begin to happen when they miraculously reappear. The movie has a few twist and turns that kept me guessing. This movie made me feel uncomfortable and scared. It's gonna be a great year for horror fans in 2023.
I’m a geek when it comes to filmmaking and how creative a director can tell a story. Specifically, I easily fall in love with long continuous shots. There are a few scenes in this movie that does this and I was completely freaking out with joy. This is one of many things the movies does and how the film really grabbed my attention. There are some great pan movements with the camera and tracking shots that had me mesmerized. Beside the incredible filmmaking, the movie had plenty of scares. Kids are always terrifying when they don’t act like kids and have more of an insidious agenda. The two actors Briella Guiza and David Mattle did an amazing performance in making me feel so uncomfortable. They delivered a chilling on screen presence and drove the majority of the suspense and tension in the movie. It was also great to see Zach Gilford from the acclaimed show Midnight Mass, in a different type of role. Everyone in the cast brought something to the table. With the actual plot, the movie was able to tell us what is really going on with the kids, without showing us. The use of sounds and shadows played a major role in the movie and revealed what was truly going on. A tactic that was a great way to tell the audience what happened to the kid’s without a big budget. It remained the movie to be effective and yet so clever. There were some issues I had with the score at times and some of the scare sound queues. I found it to be a bit distracting, but overall didn’t take my out of the film. It was a little over the top and often was used to tell the audience how they should be feeling. The scenes worked perfectly without it.
There’s Something Wrong With The Children is a fun watch that will have the horror fans happy. It is a movie that will probably be under a lot of people’s radar, so I hope people will give it a chance. Roxanne made something special and it makes me so happy to have a director that cares so much about the characters and the framing of shots. I loved all the sequences and tension building within the movie. Like I stated earlier, everyone brought something to the movie. The movie itself brings so much value and lessons. Themes about parenting and how delicate it can be, is the thread of the entire movie. So much can go wrong when taking care of kids. There’s so much responsibility in raising kids. It is a large life decision that many couples have to go through. Everyone will be able to take something out of the movie with these themes, as they are applicable to everyone. I do also like that they touched on mental health too. Something that is also very important. This movie has the lessons, scares and entertainment. I’m very happy to have checked this movie out. Coming to on demand January 17th and MGM+ March 17th. Check this one out!
Total Score: 86/100
Written By: Frederick Nuti