After promising fans a remastered widescreen print, and begging the public for anyone who may have an original reel to come forward, Troma Studio's has done it again and made fools of us all. Currently, there are no widescreen versions of this film being distributed, so I assume when someone possessing a copy stood up to help bring this classic back to living rooms around the world, they had no idea their efforts would be so abused. Troma, a company barely surviving off the fame of THE TOXIC AVENGER, is no fan of widescreen formatted DVD's. It would appear the company will say and do anything to get what they want, then leave you high and dry, so to speak. Check out the Troma DVD of the classic Christmas Evil, Troma tracked down the director of that film for an exclusive interview about the new DVD. As seen in the interview, the director is clearly excited that Troma has plans to remaster his film, and release it in a crisp digital widescreen format. This is where you really begin to feel embarrassed for the guy, realizing Troma had got him excited, then released a poor grainy full frame cut that is equivalent to the copies already found in the company of such poor quality films on DVD as The Satanic Rites of Dracula, Snowbeast, Jack the Ripper, Moon of the Wolf, Scream of the Wolf, and so on. As for the film, THE CHILDREN is a classic that I will always love. It may not hold up to the expectations of today's audiences, but for those who loved this film back in the 80's, it still holds up. Just the same, I wish my fingernails would turn black so I could burn up every copy of this DVD.
