Night Children (1989)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Norbert Meisel

Writers:

James McIntire (screenplay)
James McIntire (story)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Plot:

A veteran cop (David Carradine) investigates the crimes of an anarchist street gang that causes chaos wherever they go...

Plot Keywords:

Teen | Violence | Independent Film

Cast

David Carradine	...	Max
Patrick Culliton	...	Police Officer
Tawny Fere
Charles Grant
Nancy Kwan	...	Deborah
Kamala Lopez		(as Kamala Lopez-Dawson)
Curt Lowens
Vanessa Marquez	...	Runt
Michael Matthews	...	Rawbone
James Medina		(as Jimmy Medina Taggert)
Griffin O'Neal
Sherry Williams	...	Policewoman

Also Known As:

Children of the Night

Runtime:

USA:90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

In the context of the genre... (spoilers)

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I am starting to find many low budget late 70s, early 80s films that typified this genre of the violent teen's gone overboard. The more popular titles were films like 'Class of 1984' (which I believe inspired Troma's Class of Nuke 'Em High Series as well as invoking follow ups in Class of 1999 and it's sequels) and 'The New Kids,' or the less familiar titles such as 'Tuff Turf,' 'Savage Streets,' or 'The Principal.' They were often characterized by a wildly violent pack of teenagers, often from the city (and usually Los Angeles), and usually dressed in some sort of over-the-top derivative of punk or new age fashions that, by today's standards, are extremely laughable, if not somewhat resembling of medieval garb. The teens usually had one identifiable leader of the group who would often view no limits in their violent release against someone who inadvertently becomes their target by trying to impose some sort of moral limits on the teens which may seem reasonable to them, but not to the gang. And the good guys usually take the form of teachers, some arm of law enforcement, or helpless students.

'Night of the Children' was likely made in the tail end of this genre that had eventually evolved into less postapacolyptic-inspired and more sophisticated depictions of the violent teen crisis, as it was seen in movies often associated with authoritative reform through the education system such as Dangerous Minds, 187, Bully, and others. And, when compared to its predecessors, it is done much better than some of the earlier films, even on a shoe-string budget. For some reason, they were permitted to be more realistic (though not always exhibiting the right amount of emergency and suspense for each situation, so it is not a flawless movie, but a worthy one).

David Carradine and Nancy Kwan play characters who illustrate two different perspectives of the "juvenille justice" system after being faced with the repetition of teen violence and criminality. Carradine is Max, a cop. Kwan is his girlfriend, Deborah, a probation officer. Max believes that reformation is impossible, and that these kids are just basically helpless once they turn to a life of crime. His solution is to "lock them up and throw away the key." On the other hand, Deborah, a probation officer, believes that Max's suggestion is callous and that prison provides no rehabilitation. It is just a "storage unit," and that these kids just need to know that someone is ready to pay attention to them. Their views, of course, are tested quite extremely when they're confronted by a ruthless gang of street teens.

Max gets on their bad side when he was involved in a routine chase after they assaulted a young couple. Deborah makes matters worse though, when she tries to find Jenny (the gang leader's girlfriend) and rescue her from the clutches of her creepy boyfriend (Griffin O'Neal) and inevitable return to hooking and a heroin addiction. Violent revenge pursues as the gang leader and his lackees vow to get rid of their little team of nuisance: Max and Deborah. And there may be only person who can intervene.

I was all set to criticize the movie for an unnecessarily long ending, and worse, a rather unrealistic one (especially after seeing the wrap up of the Class of 1984, although that one was grounded in some true events). That they should've ended it at the final confrontation with the gang and their victims. But it continued, and though I thought the filmmakers were still somewhat ridiculous for striving for the happy ending, the ending takes a clear position that is worth giving some thought. Should we just give up on kids who fall into this mess? Of the genre, I would highly recommend Night of the Children. It is not without its flaws, and not without its corniness (gotta get a load of those outfits). But it is one of the better ones out there.