Who Can Kill a Child?

"Suddenly… They were the only adults left alive on the island"

1976 1h 52m ES

👍

7.0

SOLID

★7.0TMDB · 300

DramaHorrorThriller

Synopsis

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A couple of English tourists arrive at the island of Almanzora, off the Spanish Mediterranean coast, where they discover that there are no adults in a small fishing village, only some children who stare at them and smile mysteriously.

“Suddenly… They were the only adults left alive on the island”

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Cast

Lewis Fiander
Tom
Prunella Ransome
Evelyn
Antonio Iranzo
Crying Child Father
Miguel Narros
Coastguard
María Luisa Arias
Marisa Porcel
Beach House Mother
Juan Cazalilla
Luis Ciges
Postman Enrique Amorós

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Chicho Ibáñez Serrador
Writers: Chicho Ibáñez Serrador
Languages: German, Spanish, English
Countries: Spain

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

50 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: German, Spanish, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Chicho Ibáñez Serrador, shot by José Luis Alcaine. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Waldo de los Ríos. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Antonio Ramírez de Loaysa shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Lewis Fiander and Prunella Ransome and Antonio Iranzo carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Suddenly… They were the only adults left alive on the island".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0075462 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Chicho Ibáñez Serrador directs. José Luis Alcaine behind the camera. Waldo de los Ríos scores. Antonio Ramírez de Loaysa cuts. Produced in Spain. Dialogue in German, Spanish, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

150 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Dialogue crosses 3 languages: German, Spanish, English.
3Directed by Chicho Ibáñez Serrador, shot by José Luis Alcaine. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Waldo de los Ríos. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Antonio Ramírez de Loaysa shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Lewis Fiander and Prunella Ransome and Antonio Iranzo carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Suddenly… They were the only adults left alive on the island".
8IMDB entry: tt0075462 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 10 themes, including "husband wife relationship", "based on novel or book", "pregnant wife", "killer children".
10Released under 15 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: José Luis Alcaine
Original score: Waldo de los Ríos
Editing: Antonio Ramírez de Loaysa
Production design: Ramiro Gómez
Makeup / hair: Fernando Florido
VFX supervisor: Sixto Rincón
Runtime: 112 min · 1h 52m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: ES
Certification (US): 16
IMDB: Who Can Kill a Child? (1976)

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Chicho Ibáñez Serrador

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What people are saying

tmdb179960752017-02-14
★ 7/10
Mr. Serrador establishes once again with this film, that he's perhaps one of the most excellent horror directors out there and that it is a real shame that he didn't advocate his entire career to horror films only. While I'm grateful for all the episodes of "Historias para no dormir" that he directed in Spain, "El Muñeco Maldito" in Argentina and some of his other horror movies like "La Residencia", I can't help condemning the fact that he should have taken more advantage of his gift as a horror director. I think I'm not alone when I say that his creations are one of a kind and that most horror fans are left wanting more. The man who initially became accepted in Spain, Argentina and many other countries, for being the son of another horror legend, managed to build his own remarkable merits. If anyone needs corroboration of that, "Who Can Kill a Child?" is perhaps one of the crudest ways to provide evidence of his splendor. This film portrays children in a way that honestly terrified me and even though some people are probably going to recall something similar in John Wyndham's "Village of the Damned" and Stephen King's "Children of the Corn", this film creates a more mysterious atmosphere, in which nothing seems to have a material explanation. The fact that all of a sudden and for no perceptible motive, children become evil, sadistic, merciless and way more powerful than the grown-ups, is a horrifying idea that makes us wonder what children actually think or do when they're all alone. I'd like to believe that children in real life, are not actually planning some kind of sanguinary mass execution against us, grown ups, but the idea alone, is perhaps one of the cleverest ways to inflict terror. "Who Can Kill a Child?", reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" in a way, because even though the alleged villains are far from being related, I see a connection in the fact that both films deal with the idea of something that seems harmless and sweet, all of a sudden becomes a terrible punishment for a group of unaided souls. Both films demonstrate the desperation that people would have to go through, if unexpectedly, something that we take for granted becomes our worst nightmare. Written by Juan José Plans and Mr. Serrador himself, "Who Can Kill a Child?" tells the story of a couple of English tourists who take a trip to the unreal Spanish Island of Almanzora for a vacation. When they arrive to the shore, the only ones to receive them are a bunch of strange children who don't seem to show much warmness. Nevertheless, Tom and Evelyn who are actually rather nice and respectful to the locals, don't take the hostility very seriously and go to their hotel with the intention of talking to an grown person to assist them with the things they need. Unfortunately, the entire island seems to be deserted and the only ones to wander around the place, are these mischievous, creepy little children who don't even bother saying a word to them. Everything gets even worse however, when they realize that these children have slaughtered all the grown-ups for some unknown reason and they're most likely the next ones to be butchered. Vulnerable and with no one else to turn to, Tom and Evelyn find themselves harassed by these diabolical kids and the worst part is that there's nothing they can do to fight back, because no matter how dangerous they look….who can kill a child anyway?. Like I stated before, when we take the plot independently from the movie on the whole, I guess we can make a light comparison to "Village of the Damned" or "Children of the Corn", but I think it's safe to say that "Who Can Kill a Child?" is a lot more crude and intriguing. And the best way to give an example of this crudity, would be the opening sequence, in which we see a selection of actual footage about several tragedies that occurred in the world, in which children were the ones to suffer the consequences and pay for the ruthless choices of the grown ups. For instance, the Nazi holocaust, the war in Korea and many other things. It was really appalling (and sort of uncalled for, if I have to be honest) for me to see real life images of ravenous Jewish children carrying their relatives and throwing them inside a big hole or African babies from Niger, completely malformed and skeletal with no energy to even cry. The point of these devastating images, is a way to prove that children are always the ones who suffer because of the adults and their evilness and while Mr. Serrador's method to make his point is beyond debatable, I can't deny that this opening sequence offers one of the most atrocious images I have ever seen in my whole life. Definitely an interesting way to prepare the audience for a crude and cold-blooded film about vicious Spanish children, who are somehow trying to avenge all the children who suffer in the world because of the stupid grown-ups.

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