Wicked Little Things (2006)

Karen, Sarah, and Emma Tunney are all moving to a small town in Pennsylvania where, unknown to them, in 1913, a horrid mine accident trapped dozens of children alive, underground. But there's a problem. They're still alive.

Director:

J.S. Cardone

Writers:

Boaz Davidson (story by), Ben Nedivi (screenplay by)

Stars:

Lori Heuring, Scout Taylor-Compton, Chloë Grace Moretz

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lori Heuring	...	Karen
Scout Taylor-Compton	...	Sarah
Chloë Grace Moretz	...	Emma (as Chloe Moretz)
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Harold
Ben Cross	...	Aaron Hanks
Craig Vye	...	Tim
Chris Jamba	...	Sean
Julie Rogers	...	Lisa
Martin McDougall	...	Mr. Carlton
Michael McCoy	...	Walter
Velizar Binev	...	Bull Foreman
Helia Grekova	...	Mary
George Zlatarev	...	Explosive Captain
Atanas Srebrev	...	Russel
Vlado Mihailov	...	Trevor (as Vladimir Mihaylov)

Storyline

In 1913, in Carlton Mine, Addytown, Pennsylvania, the cruel owner of a mine uses poor children in the exploration and after an explosion, a group of children is buried alive. On the present days, Karen Tunny has just lost her husband after a long period of terminal disease when the family savings have been spent in the treatment. Without any money, she moves with her daughters Sarah and Emma to an old house in the mountains that belonged to her husband. Karen is advised by her neighbors to stay at home in the night, and Sarah hears that there are zombies in the area. When Emma becomes friend of Mary, he mother believes she is an imaginary friend. However, when Sarah's friends are attacked and eaten alive by zombie children and Emma vanishes, Karen and Sarah chase her nearby the mine.

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Plot Keywords:

explosion | zombie | black eyes | haunting | triple teen murder | 

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Taglines:

Prey for them

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong horror violence and gore, language, and some teen drug and alcohol use

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 November 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Zombies

Filming Locations:

New Boyana Film Studios, Sofia, Bulgaria

Company Credits

Production Co:

Millennium Films, Höger Human Service Medien & Personal GmbH, Millennium Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Tobe Hooper was initially attached to direct the film.

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Goofs

In the ending sequence, Carlton's gun changes from a GLOCK (at the car) to a Beretta (in Hank's home) and then back to a GLOCK (as he leaves the home).

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Quotes

Karen Tunny: [after the Tunnys first enter the old house] I wonder how old that Christmas Tree is?
Sarah Tunny: At least they had a Christmas.

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Connections

References Sleepy Hollow (1999)

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Soundtracks

Countin On You
(uncredited)
Written by Deborah V. DiFonzo and Scott Schreer
Published by Freeplaymusic (BMI)
Courtesy of Freeplay Music

User Reviews

Cardone working from a Davidson script is definitely the stuff of nightmares. But not in a good way.

Having spent all of her money caring for her terminally ill spouse, recently widowed Karen Tunny (Lori Heuring) moves with her two daughters Sarah (Scout Taylor-Compton) and Emma (Chloe Moretz) to her late husband's run-down family home in rural Pennsylvania, where local legends speak of zombies who roam the woods at night.

Just seeing the names of this film's writer and director in the opening credits was enough to send shivers up my spine: Boaz Davidson is the 'genius' responsible for penning the scripts for such STV titles as Octopus 1 & 2, Spiders and Crocodile, whilst J.S. Cardone gave us the godawful 'video nasty' The Slayer and dull vampire flick The Forsaken. With such dubious talent responsible, I didn't expect much from Wicked Little things.

And having just finished the film, I'm glad I kept my expectations low.

Although the movie looks good at times, with lovely use of the eerie woodland locale, and the cast give reasonable performances given the clichéd drivel that they are working with, the plot is so laboured, poorly written, and derivative that it's impossible to be enthusiastic about. Most importantly, perhaps, the film's killers, undead children who rise each night from the mine in which they died, aren't in the least bit scary, a smudge of makeup, black contacts and some crappy joke shop scars doing very little to add to the sense of menace. Scout Taylor-Compton and company do their best to look afraid of the tiny terrors, screaming convincingly with every confrontation, but their admirable attempts to instill a sense of fear in the audience is to little avail: the little blighters just ain't got what it takes to chill the blood.

There are a few lacklustre zombie chow scenes in a futile bid to win over gore-hounds, and the final kill, which sees the victim's blood drench both Compton and Heuring, is suitably tasteless, but on the whole, Wicked Little Things (AKA Zombies in the UK) is instantly forgettable trash—just another clunker in the filmographies of Cardone and Davidson.