The Child Molester (1964) User Reviews

Poorly made traumatizing exploitation crime film for kiddies

[cliffcarson-1 · 1/10 · 4 May 2008]

I actually saw this poorly made exploitation instructional kiddie film on two occasions in elementary school. One time with the crime scene footage included and one time without. I was in the second grade in 1967 when Child Molester was shown in the school cafeteria for grades 2 through 7. The lunchroom was packed. Like a lot of films that where shown in the school auditorium (Disney's Pollyanna being one), students had to get permission from their parents by way of a signed permission slip in order to see the film. Back in 1967, I'm sure my mother (like a lot of parents) had no idea what they were signing when allowing their children to view this horrifically misguided cheap and irresponsible little film. In 1964, when this film was originally made, all public films were generally safe to view, certainly instructional and educational ones. At that time, even the MPAA rating system for theatrical films didn't exist. Educational films were shown frequently in school, but none with the content that this one had. Up to that time, as a 7 year old, I believed the world to be a wondrous safe place and the adults in it to be generally good and kind. This film changed all that.

At the end of the school day and in the lunchroom auditorium, a Police Officer introduced the film prior to it being shown and set us up for what we were about to see. The movie started out harmless enough. As a 7 year old I could easily identify with the little brown haired girl that the film focuses on. I didn't understand why we in the audience could "hear" the strangers voice, but were never allowed to actually see him, except from the waist down. The juxtaposition back and forth between worried adults at home and scenes of the little girls being lead and stalked through the woods were unsettling. I remember the giggles from other kids in the auditorium at the moment when the busybody noisy neighbor runs out of her front door and her boobs are bopping up and down. That scene was laughed and talked about for days. If the film seemed boring in spots, the scene when the film fades to black after the little girl screams in the pipe woke me up real fast. That scene was unsettling to this 7 year old, but nothing could have prepared me for the crime scene footage that came afterwards. Odd, because I remember those images coming on the screen and not knowing exactly what I was looking at? It was like I had to piece that image together. Suddenly an older boy behind me said, "those are the girls". Quickly, but like in slow motion, the reality of what I was looking at set in and I became very frightened and very disturbed The film ended and the Police Officer followed up with a reminder. I ran home from school as fast as I could and told my mother what I had seen. I talked and thought about nothing else for weeks. Those crime scene images would not leave my head. I slept on the edge of my parents bed for months. I was unable to sleep alone or be in a room by myself. My mother continually reminded me the importance of "thinking good thoughts" but to no avail. Before long, too many parents protested that this film was giving their children nightmares and the school quit their yearly run of it.

Over 40 years have passed since I've seen this crummy little film. For years I thought I would never see it again and now here it is in all it's campy and irresponsible glory. A film as bad as any film ever made, maybe even worse coming from the paranoid fear of adult filmmakers. Poorly made with narration that is both prejudice and homophobic. To a child, this film gives the impression that every grown up in the world is a potential murderer and child molester. The message of this film is that no child is safe in the world and that no adult can be trusted. Walk outside of your house, there will be a molester. Go to the movies, there will be a molester. Play in the school yard and there will be a molester. Your next door neighbor or anyone on the street could be a molester and they are everywhere in record numbers and parents, teachers and policemen are helpless to do anything. The burden is on the child to protect himself. Child Molester is probably the cruelest and most irresponsible instructional film ever made. It is one thing for the producers of Highway safety films to show teenagers the images of mangled dismembered bodies in auto accidents and quite another to show second graders images of murdered children. It was wrong and a cruel thing to instill fear into children by this means. Shame on all of them for their so called "good intentions". They took a part of wonder that is apart of childhood and instead replaced it with fear at too early of an age. There are other ways of conveying the information without scaring and traumatizing children. If I were to ever confront the producer of this film, I'd punch him right in the nose.

Campy and exploitative film with truly disturbing climax.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 7/10 · 15 October 2008]

A sexual predator,who enjoys preying on young girls is on the loose.Two innocent kids are led away by a stranger who has candy.They are taken to a secluded area.When one of the kids manages to escape the stranger says "come with me or I'll kill you now!" when the stranger finds the other kid.The other girl with the stranger breaks free,while the other kid yells "save yourself!".The ending of this short is horrifying.We see very graphic footage of two murdered girls,who were battered to death.It's real and not for the easily offended."The Child Molester" was filmed in Mansfield,Ohio.The name of the child killer was Gerald Ray Howell.The film was produced by the Highway Safety Foundation in 1964 and it's too disturbing for little children to watch.It works as a warning,though!

Shown to elementary children.

[rhopkins-79587 · 1/10 · 9 October 2021]

I am not sure if this is the film that was shown to classes in elementary school in the mid 1960s.

The one I remember had two girls, one went home, and from that point I don't remember what else happened, but I do remember being freaked out. I also am pretty sure the last scene was a small shoe floating down a stream.

Pretty horrifying for children.

I learned in my 20s from a former schoolmate whose mother was very active in PTA and school business, that we were a "test case".

Again, not sure if this is the film we were shown in an attempt to keep us safe, but if anyone knows, please post.

Traumatized me

[pinksuse-587-715552 · 1/10 · 13 April 2024]

I was shown this film at school when I was only 8. I was traumatized. I had nightmares for years. I have been haunted by the images of the bodies and the shoe in the water my whole life and I can't believe I finally stumbled on the name of this film. My heart started racing when I saw the IMDB images. I am now 57. I have never forgotten it. NO CHILD SHOULD EVER BE SHOWN THIS FILM. It is far too graphic. There are much better ways to teach children about stranger danger. I watch true crime all the time now. But I am an adult. I can process this kind of information. An 8 year old cannot. I still can't believe my school thought it was appropriate to show young children this film.

An old fashion educational film that actually got much of it right...

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 13 October 2009]

While this film has rather poor sound and it looks quite dated, for a 1960s public service film, it did a good job of explaining the problem of child molestation and how to protect your kids from them. I'd just watched another public service film "Duck and Cover" and found 99% of its advice to be completely ridiculous, as it advocated covering your face with newspapers or hiding under a school desk to help you survive nuclear attack! "The Child Molester", on the other hand, gets a lot of it right--and it's a sobering reminder to parents to talk about this with young kids.

It's important to note that I used to be a social worker and then a therapist specializing in sexual abuse treatment. So I have a good idea of the good and bad of this film. As far as the bad goes, it perpetuates the stereotype that molesters are strangers and men. Most reliable estimates are that only about 10-20% of the molesters are strangers and while men still predominate, in recent years the number of identified female perpetrators is on the rise--so you need to take some of the advice with a grain of salt. However, the film excels in showing that you can inoculate a child against such stranger rape by simply teaching them a few basic rules. It won't protect them in every case (as the film is clear to explain) but it will eliminate much of the risk. Also, the ending of the film, while very graphic and disturbing, is very effective--it shows that the risk is real and deadly.

Overall, not a bad film at all and an interesting relic from the 1960s.

The Child Molester

[a_baron · 8/10 · 8 December 2017]

"The Child Molester" is a public information film; it is not so much about child molesters but the even more odious child killers, notwithstanding there is some overlap. The Americans made a few of these films in the 1960s to warn the young about the kinds of people they ought to avoid if they wanted to die in an old folks' home rather than a year or two on in a ditch somewhere. This one is fairly dramatic, beginning with the double kidnap of two girls with the narrator pointing out what they did wrong. Of course, at the end of the day the people who need to be trained are the parents, so this is primarily a parental guide, in fact some might have deemed it unsuitable for a young audience because it finishes with actual crime scene footage to show parents what their kids might end up looking like if they don't heed the warnings. All very dramatic, sinister, and yuk, but at the saying goes, if it saves one life, it's worth it. Hopefully it did. If there is a desideratum, it is the absence of female predators. They do exist, and did exist then, in fact at the time "The Child Molester" was made, one of the most notorious in living memory - Myra Hindley - along with her lover Ian Brady, was half way into her killing spree.

Inept but disturbing stranger danger film

[fertilecelluloid · 8/10 · 15 October 2008]

"The Child Molester", produced by the Highway Safety Foundation, was made to educate children about the consequences of going off with strangers. Although it does mention "men who enjoy touching children", it avoids the words "sex" and "rape". It does not, however, avoid a graphic montage of molested children whose brains have been bashed out. Although this section of the film is short, it is utterly horrific. Directed by the oddball Herbert J. Leder, the man who brought us "The Candy Man", the film focuses on the abduction and stalking of two very young children as their parents and the police attempt to reconcile what has happened. Technically, it is bargain basement, but it is precisely this attribute that makes it all the more disturbing. The graphic footage, which climaxes the film, is meant to represent the fate of the two girls who became the child molester's victims. The molester looks like a Ward Cleaver type and drives the kind of car that Ward would have driven. Intercut with the main story are short vignettes of children escaping the clutches of molesters of various shapes and sizes; a boy has his leg grabbed in a movie theater, another is attacked in an alleyway. The tone is alarmist beyond belief, the imagery implying that there is a molester on every street corner and outside every window. Apparently, the film was screened to school children briefly, then withdrawn. Considering the horrific crime photos on display, I'm not surprised. It must have caused a nightmare of ten.

I lived there. We lived on Ausdale in 1962, one street from Central Park and just south of North Lake Park. I was 7, my sister was 8. We snuck through the parks all the time-

[mkaykrempel · 10/10 · 7 June 2022]

We lived on Ausdale in 1962, one street from Central Park and just south of North Lake Park where my sister lives now. I was 7, my sister was 8. We snuck through the parks all the time (whether our parents okayed or Not!). One week after the murders our bus, running late, dropped us at the entrance of N. Lake Park. There was usually an older man there with a cotton candy machine. Who could resist?

When we were picked up a few hours later by MPD, officers kept us there and called our father down. He silently, solemnly, trundled us into the car. Turning onto Ausdale I will never forget my mother running down the hill crying like I'd never seen before or since. It was indescribable! Dad stopped the car and let her in for the short ride to our driveway, she squeezing us tight and sobbing.

They never told us anything. No one ever spoke of our childlike indiscretion but I know now what we put our parents through that afternoon, and will grieve it the rest of my life.

Loved it!

[peytonalexsans · 10/10 · 5 April 2022]

Really loved this movie, really encouraging and deeply connected 10/10 don't listen to the low reviews those are just average dumb libtards who want to cancel us and censor our beliefs and freedoms of America. This is a true masterpiece classic that I routinely return to show my kids and would fully recommend you to do so as well.

Horrific

[nmcconkey-13569 · 20 August 2021]

In 1974 or 1975, I was shown this movie in the first grade and recall my kindergarten-aged brother also being in the auditorium at West Elementary in Norwalk, Iowa. This movie traumatized me for years. It was lore amongst my older siblings - how frightening it was, how the school would make you watch it, how my sister would hide whenever a car drove by our house for months after viewing it for the first time. Did it have the effect intended - yes, but at too great a cost. Those poor girls.