Children of the Dark

"Vampire Girls" is one of the many cruel nicknames that is used by ignorant neighbors in the movie "Children of the Dark", after two young sisters are diagnosed with a rare disease that makes them unable to come in contact with sunlight. The little girls' disease distraughts their parents, confuses their older step-brother, and horrifies the neighboors, who want that family out of their one horse town! The actions of their neighbors creates the greatest conflict in "Children of the Dark", but unfortunately, it is also the silliest plot twist of this so-so TV movie. Such actions peroformed by the unwelcoming neighbors include: spray painting the house and van with the message "vampire girls", mocking the younger sister when she sneaks outside and talking to her in a "Dracula" voice (even some adults were doing it!), avoiding all of the family members, but gossiping about them when they are in hearing range, fighting with the father and making him lose his job, and vandalizing and setting their house on fire while they were in their backyard having a party! What's the family to do, move of course. What do they face? Problems, problems and more problems. Now, I am aware that Children of the Dark is based on a true story, and I even remember the real little girls appearing on the news. I'm sure they did face alienation because of their disease, and maybe even some acts of cruelty, but the movie really goes overboard to a point of where it's just kind of dumb after awhile. Oh well, it was still an entertaining and somewhat touching story with a good performance by Peter Horton.

The film was somewhat interesting to watch, as it is a film that shows how people react to things that they do not understand. Which is to say the movie shows people's negative reactions to stuff they do not understand. The plot has a family of five which includes a mother, a father, two girls, and a son of a previous marriage of the mother. During an outing one of the girls gets severely sun burned which normally would not be anything abnormal, however this occurred in a stunningly short amount of time. Well they take her to the doctor and find that not only she, but her other sister as well has some rare disease that causes them both to be very susceptible to getting burned if they stay in direct sunlight to long to the point they could die. Well this causes a stir in the town they are in and the family is basically forced out seeing as how everyone thinks these two girls might give their children a disease that is not the type that can be transmitted to another, but rather genetic. You would think the doctors and such could have educated the town on this and the poor family might not have been forced out. Well they have a road trip and then they try settling into a new home. The film was not originally a lifetime channel movie, but it sort of plays out like one in spurts. The illness the two girls suffer from though makes the movie more interesting than it would have had the sickness been something more common. Nothing great, but it passes the time.

The film itself is great, I remember watching this back in the 90s, it's definitely worth watching. I'm just leaving a comment for bargaintent who left the other review claiming this is "proof of ignorant people"... no it isn't. A fictional dramatised film, is thought provoking, sure, it's not "proof" of anything. If you want "proof" walk down the streets and watch how people react to other people with difference. That's real proof. A fictional film is not. Otherwise we would all be claiming Independence Day is "proof" of alien life.

I'm just going to watch sausage party, apparently it's "proof" of what our groceries get up to when we're not looking...

This whole movie proves how ignorant both children and adults can be when faced with the knowledge of a helpless individual's incurable, unwanted disease. These children already were going through a living hell dealing with the disease itself. They didn't need rude and ignorant comments and attacks from uneducated, immature people.

Although some of the treatment that the family receives in this movie might seem a bit exaggerated, the writers show proof of how people with such diseases are treated.

Every single day people are treated in this way because of their handicap(s). God bless these poor children who have to deal with such a disease as well as their parents who have the guilt themselves of feeling like they caused it.

I give two thumbs up to the creators of this awesome movie which I have seen more than once. Maybe it will encourage others to look further into how they treat people who may not be quite as blessed as themselves.