THE
CHILD (1977)Director: Robert Voskanian
Something Weird/Image Entertainment
THE
CHILD (1977)In this Harry Novak exploiter, also known as KILL AND GO HIDE, a pretty housekeeper (Alicianne Del Mar) from the city is hired by a grumpy widowed farmer (Frank Janson) to take care of his young daughter Rosalie (Rosalie Cole). Lots of strange occurrences have happened, including several murders in the small community, and Rosalie is considered an outcast. The peculiar child has telepathic abilities, communicating with her late mother and moving inanimate objects, but worst of all, she visits the nearby cemetery late at night to see her "friends."
Despite some really poor acting and an obvious shoestring budget, THE CHILD does manage to deliver some chills with its gloomy backwoods atmosphere, and the makeup effects are somewhat impressive. Characters are shown with their faces mutilated to a bloody pulp, eyes torn out of their socket and all. Rosalie's "friends" happen to be a group of crazy mixed up zombies, and these vicious creatures surround a young couple secluded inside a barn during the climax (the DVD packaging calls the movie "NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and CARRIE by way of THE BAD SEED" and that's not a bad description). The rotting, walking corpses are eerie, and this confrontation is definitely something comparable to George Romero's living dead films.
Image and Something Weird have done a worthy job of releasing THE CHILD on DVD. The full frame image is hampered by the dimly lit shots of the filmmaker, and their are nicks and scratches about in the source print, but the colors appear distinct, especially the blood reds. The image is smooth for the most part with some minor grain. The mono sound is fine with no noticeable problems.
As always, there are extras galore. There's two black & white classroom-type shorts: "The Outsider," about a girl who's lack of popularity is her own stupidity (even the fat Pugsley kid is popular) and "The ABC of Baby Sitting," which speaks for itself. You also get trailers for these Harry Novak titles: BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, BOOBY TRAP, THE CHILD, FRANKENSTEIN'S CASTLE OF FREAKS, KIDNAPPED COED, THE MAD BUTCHER, THE TOY BOX, and TOYS ARE NOT FOR CHILDREN. And let's not forget one of my favorite supplements--an extensive showcase of classic drive-in ads accompanied by exploitation radio spots.
And that's not all folks... There's also another full feature on the disc: Del Tenney's I EAT YOUR SKIN from 1964. Also known as ZOMBIE, I EAT YOUR SKIN is the least of Tenney's amusing guilty pleasures (HORROR OF PARTY BEACH, CURSE OF THE LIVING CORPSE, PSYCHOMANIA). This one is about crusty, egg carton-eyed zombies terrorizing hipsters on a voodoo island, and it's sort of like I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE for the beach crowd. The black & white print has some rough spots and carries the "SWV" watermark in the lower corner, but the image is not bad, and it marks the DVD debut of this cult favorite. (George R. Reis)