The Child (1977)

A newly hired house-keeper in a secluded area is alarmed to discover that her boss's eleven-year-old daughter is using her supernatural powers to take revenge on the people she holds ... See full summary »

Director:

Robert Voskanian

Writer:

Ralph Lucas

Stars:

Laurel Barnett, Rosalie Cole, Frank Janson

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Laurel Barnett	...	Alicianne Del Mar
Rosalie Cole	...	Rosalie Nordon
Frank Janson	...	Nordon
Richard Hanners	...	Len Nordon
Ruth Ballan	...	Mrs. Whitfield (as Ruth Ballen)
Slosson Bing Jong	...	Gardener
Rod Medigovich	...	Priest / Creature
Wendell Hudiburg	...	Pall Bearer
Chris Tieken	...	Jefferson
Ralph Lucas	...	Creature
Jim Dickson	...	Creature
Chick Cavanaugh	...	Creature
Anoosh Avan	...	Creature

Storyline

A newly hired house-keeper in a secluded area is alarmed to discover that her boss's eleven-year-old daughter is using her supernatural powers to take revenge on the people she holds responsible for her mother's death, with the aid of her flesh-eating zombie 'friends'.

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Plot Keywords:

revenge | child villain | little girl | female villain | psychokinesis | 

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Taglines:

Suspense and terror

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

March 1977 (USA)

Also Known As:

Children of the Night

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Panorama Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min 85 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was shot mostly on short ends.

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Goofs

Len's hairstyle and clothing do not match the film's 1930s setting.

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Quotes

Rosalie Nordon: I hate grapefruit!

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Alternate Versions

The German DVD released by Best Entertainment in 2004 is listed as and has a running time of 85 mins. However the longer running time is due to a time expansion (meaning the film print was slowed down). It has nothing extra and the content is exactly the same as the US VHS tape with the following two exceptions- The opening title sequence is a little different in the way the credits appear and that it has some added wind sound effect playing in the background (which you can hear was from the film print and not something added as a new sound effect). Also towards the end when the zombies attack, our two main characters are fighting one by a saw mill type building where the zombie gets stabbed with a wooden stake. The US version then shows a far away shot of our two heroes running around to the front of the saw mill building before her leg breaks through a floorboard in the front. The German dvd omits this long shot, so after the zombie is stabbed it cuts to them already in the front of the building a second before her leg goes through the floorboard.

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Connections

Referenced in Horror Business (2005)

User Reviews

Not bad but way too weird

A pretty lady is hired as the nanny of a spooky little girl called Rosalie. The girl is a bit of a loner, mostly hanging out in the woods that surround her house and grieving over her dead mother. Thing totally go awry when Rosalie starts to act more and more like a little psychopath, drawing morbid pictures of her family and hiring her "friends" from the woods to kill people that get in her way. There's some eerie atmosphere in "The Child" as well as some ominous guiding music and macabre scenery. The pacing is slow, though, and there's much too much weirdness going on that remains unexplained. The kid is okay, I guess, but not half as creepy as the juvenile murderers in "The Children", "Bloody Birthday" or "Village of the Damned". The budget obviously was very limited, resulting in poor editing and cheesy make-up effects. Not a bad little movie, but you'll forget about it pretty soon.