There’s Something Wrong with the Children review.
There’s Something Wrong with the Children has a fantastic middle section surrounded by two perfectly fine ones. A more engaging opening and a less predictable ending would have balanced out what could have been an instant classic. We still get a good movie with some extremely high points.
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There’s Something Wrong with the Children
Directed by Roxanne Benjamin
Written by T.J. Cimfel and David White
Starring Amanda Crew, Zach Gilford, Briella Guiza, David Mattle, Carlos Santos and Alisha Wainwright
There’s Something Wrong with the Children Review
There’s nothing overtly wrong with the first act of There’s Something Wrong with the Children. It spends time letting us know the relationships of the core characters and their individual quirks. The strange thing is how little of it is important when the story hits act two. Outside of one argument later in the movie where secrets we are already privy to come to light…you don’t need to know much of anything from act one to enjoy the rest of the movie. In fact, the only information you need to retain is that one of the characters is on anti-psychotic medication…and that, well, there is something wrong with the children.
There’s nothing wrong with the third act of There’s Something Wrong with the Children either. It chooses a tried-and-true path to climax its story. We’ve seen what it’s doing before but it is done well enough to work. A few creepy moments…a battle for survival…all marks checked in a column somewhere. In fact, the only thing that hurts the first and final acts of the movie is that the second act is so damn good.
Ben (Zach Gilford) and Margaret (Alisha Wainwright) take a weekend trip with old friends Ellie (Amanda Crew) and Thomas (Carlos Santos). Ellie and Thomas have two children, Lucy (Briella Guiza) and Spencer (David Mattle). Ben and Margaret are unsure if they want their own. When they find large ruins in the woods the children begin acting strangely. The next morning, the childless husband finds that the children have gone back to the ruins on their own. He witnesses them seemingly jump to their deaths only to reappear at their parents’ side back at the cabin. While he’s sure these aren’t the same kids…his history of mental illness complicates finding anyone to believe him should he share his fears.
So…about that second act. It’s the reason to watch There’s Something Wrong with the Children. The entire time we watch Ben struggle with understanding the things that he is seeing is terrific. Lucy and Spencer take the creepy kid trope and work it to perfection. The added bit is that they are directing all their creepiness at one character. Ben becomes our window into the story because we are seeing the same things that he is. No one else on this vacation seems to notice any of it.
Ben, as mentioned earlier, has a history with mental illness. This posits him as a potentially unreliable set of eyes for us. Did he see the children jump into the pit? Are their changed demeanors and threats of violence really happening? Will anyone believe him if he tells them what he sees? Do we?
There’s Something Wrong with the Children has a lot of fun with these questions in the middle portion of the story. So much fun that it can be a bit frustrating when the film changes perspectives for the final act. We begin to follow another character so that we can discover the answers to those questions. This is a perfectly fine stylistic choice for the story. It just never stood a chance in comparison to not knowing what’s happened…and being trapped in the only person who believes these are not the same children.
But…every story needs an ending and There’s Something Wrong with the Children chooses to do there’s in an acceptable, if unsurprising, way. This leaves two ways to think about the movie. Either you can feel let down by the entirety of the film being unable to match the second act…or you can be excited that the movie hits a higher peak than many, thus elevating its otherwise standard fare. I’m choosing to look at it as the latter.
All the other merits of the film are fine. The cast does a great job. The kids are creepy. The adults are likable enough. Gilford nails Ben’s quiet terror. Wainwright shines as her role evolves late. The first act is a bit on the slow side, especially in retrospect when so much of it turns out to be filler. It’s worth sticking it through, however. Because that second act is a thing of beauty.
Scare Value
There’s a lot of fun to be had in There’s Something Wrong with the Children. After a decent first act, the movie really takes off. While there is still some fun left over for the climax…There’s Something Wrong with the Children simply can’t maintain the high point of its second act. It turns into a more traditional horror movie and put the set-up that offers the most fun aside. There’s still enjoyment to be had and the overall package adds up to something worth checking out.
3.5/5
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Check out our review of another recent independent horror film, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
