Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (1973)

Six friends dig up a corpse named Orville. They use it in a satanic ritual to make the dead rise from their graves. Look out!!!

Director:

Bob Clark

Writers:

Alan Ormsby (screenplay), Bob Clark

Stars:

Alan Ormsby, Valerie Mamches, Jeff Gillen

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alan Ormsby	...	Alan
Valerie Mamches	...	Val
Jeff Gillen	...	Jeff (as Jeffrey Gillen)
Anya Ormsby	...	Anya
Paul Cronin	...	Paul
Jane Daly	...	Terry
Roy Engleman	...	Roy
Robert Philip	...	Emerson
Bruce Solomon	...	Winns
Alecs Baird	...	Caretaker
Seth Sklarey	...	Orville Dunworth
Bob Sherman	...	Ghoul (as Robert Sherman)
Curtis Bryant	...	Ghoul
William R. 'Bob' Smedley	...	Tallest dead thing (as Robert Smedley)
Debbie Cummins	...	Ghoul

Storyline

Actors led by Alan Ormsby go to a graveyard on a remote island to perform a necromantic ritual. The ritual works and soon the dead are walking about and chowing down on human flesh.

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Plot Keywords:

actor | graveyard | island | cannibalism | zombie | 

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Taglines:

Experience the unexpected terror of rising rotting flesh...

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 February 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

Revenge of the Living Dead

Filming Locations:

Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$70,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Geneni Film Distributors

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Stereo (2.0) DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Orville is sitting on the couch with Alan, they move his arm and for a moment, you can see his normal "flesh colored" skin between the fake right ghoul hand and suit sleeve.

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Goofs

After Val shines the light on the body of Paul, she then turns back around, bringing the light with her; yet when Terry looks out, both the body and zombie are still illuminated by the same light.

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Quotes

Alan: [to Orville's corpse] I'm gonna take your scraps and feed them to my dog.

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Crazy Credits

Director Bob Clark is credited as "Benjamin Clark" in the opening credits.

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Connections

Edited into Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell (1987)

User Reviews

From the director of "Porky's" and "A Christmas Story"!

Bob Clark's untimely death a few weeks ago brings to mind his movies, including this one (here, he's billed with his real first name Benjamin). I first learned about "Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things" in a movie calendar on a day when the theme was "Gruesome Titles": there was this one along with "Nice Girls Don't Explode", "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" and "8 Heads in a Duffel Bag". It's one of the many movies coming out in the early 1970s portraying teenagers and young adults doing things that they shouldn't have and getting punished in the worst possible way. In this case, a guy brings his friends to an island cemetery, where they exhume a corpse for a satanic ritual. Sure enough, it resurrects the rest of the cemetery's deceased inhabitants.

I once read that these sorts of movies have sort of a reactionary undertone, as they portray the younger generation getting castigated for doing what they wanted, especially if they have sex and use drugs (though there's none of that here). But even so, "CSPWDT" is a total pleasure, as they make the most of their low budget and show as much gore as they want. It does take a while for everything to really get going, but once it does, they pull no punches. You're sure to love it - assuming that you're the type who takes the time to watch these kinds of flicks.

So, in conclusion: Bob Clark, wherever you are, we'll always remember you for this movie, and for "Porky's" and "A Christmas Story".