The Children (1980)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Max Kalmanowicz

Writers:

Carlton J. Albright (writer)
Edward Terry (writer)

Release Date:

13 June 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

...thank God they're somebody else's!

Plot:

A nuclear-plant leak turns a bus-load of children into murderous atomic zombies with black fingernails.

Plot Keywords:

Children | Fingernails | Bus | Dog | Child Killing Child

Cast

Martin Shakar	...	John Freemont
Gil Rogers	...	Sheriff Billy Hart
Gale Garnett	...	Cathy Freemont
Shannon Bolin	...	Molly
Tracy Griswold	...	Deputy Harry Timmons
Joy Glaccum	...	Suzie MacKenzie
Jeptha Evans	...	Paul MacKenzie
Clara Evans	...	Jenny Freemont
Sarah Albright	...	Ellen Chandler
Nathanael Albright	...	Tommy Button
Julie Carrier	...	Janet Shore
Michelle La Mothe	...	Dr. Joyce Gould
Edward Terry	...	Hank
Peter Maloney	...	Frank
Jessie Abrams	...	Clarkie Freemont

Also Known As:

The Children of Ravensback

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:M | France:-16 | Norway:15 (video premiere) | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Aston Magna House, Great Barrington, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Albright Films Inc.

Trivia:

Writer/producer Carlton J. Albright's kids, Sarah Albright and Nathanael Albright, are cast in this movie as Ellen and Tommy, respectively.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the bus breaks down, it's on the right side of the road, but all throughout the rest of the movie it's on the left side of the road.

Movie Connections:

References Alien (1979)

Beware the black fingernails of death....

This B-grade horror flick has some surprising special effects, and a completely predictable twist ending. When a school bus drives into the fog from a nuclear plant leak, the children inside are transformed into black-fingernailed zombies that incinerate anyone they touch, apparently from the inside-out. My fondness for this movie probably stems from the circumstances in which I saw it--I was 12 or 13, alone in front of the TV at my sister's house at around 2 AM,watching a "rated R movie(!)" I had been expressly forbidden to see. I'm not sure whether I was more afraid of the movie or an adult catching me, but either way, it was good fun. I'm looking forward to the day this one is finally released on DVD.