Out of the spate of possessed and killer child movies that emerged since young Karen Cooper committed matricide in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, Narciso Ibanez Serrador's visit to the "island of the damned" was the only one that posed the discomforting question WHO CAN KILL A CHILD?, on Blu-ray from Mondo Macabro.

Biologist Tom (Lewis Fiander, DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE) and his pregnant wife Evelyn (Prunella Ransome, FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD) arrive in Spain for a planned holiday on the remote island of Almanzora. Unbeknownst to them, a few bodies have washed up on the mainland and the causes of death are unnatural. The couple rent a boat and sail to the mainland, only to discover the village deserted except for the children. Assuming that the adults must be on the other side of the island for some religious ceremony, they make themselves at home in the local inn. It is only when Tom sees a little girl (Marian Salgado, DEMON WITCH CHILD) thrashing a helpless old man with his own cane that he and Evelyn realize that there is something more sinister afoot. While a frightened Dutch tourist tries to summon help from them through the town switchboard, Tom and Evelyn learn from a fellow adult survivor (Antonio Iranzo, CUT THROATS NINE) that the children suddenly went crazy the night before and murdered all of the adults who, like him, were unable to defend themselves because: "Who can kill a child?" As children who regard death as child's play become an increasingly menacing barrier between them and the safety of the open sea, Tom and Evelyn may have to commit the ultimate taboo for the sake of their own survival.

WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? was the second horror film of Spanish director Narciso Ibanez Serrador who had previously helmed the AIP pick-up THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED/LA RESIDENCIA. Whereas his first film was a period gothic chiller laced with late 1960s gore, WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? takes its cues from siege films against the unnatural like THE BIRDS and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD – or THE PEOPLE WHO OWN THE DARK for something closer to home – with children as the attackers. Serrador eschews the science fiction explanation of Juan José Plans' source novel "El Juego de los Ninos (The Children's Game)" and leaves his besieged protagonists to ponder various physical, metaphysical, psychological, and philosophical possibilities for the sudden revolt of the children (the French theatrical title was REVOLT OF THE YEAR 2000). Stephen King must have seen the film in its US cut (minus the footage underlining the theme of children as victims of wartime atrocities), and one cannot help but wonder if the source story and film of CHILDREN OF THE CORN might have played better had he not offered affirmation of a supernatural cause. The opening credits stock footage of war atrocities with statistics for the total people killed (and separate ones for the children) and a camera shop clerk underlines that it is always the children who suffer the most. The titular question is asked rhetorically in the film's dialogue, and the film builds towards the cinematic transgression powerfully. Waldo de los Rios (MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE) contributes a spare score dominated by a child humming a lullaby-like tune (one also wonders if Augustin Villaronga was vaguely inspired by the film for his IN A GLASS CAGE). Spanish horror favorite Luis Ciges (HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB) shows up briefly as the island's postman. While both THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED and WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? were horror masterworks, and Serrador continued in the genre with the long-running television anthology HISTORIAS PARA NO DORMIR, he was set for life with the creation of the game show UN, DOS, TRES... RESPONDA OTRA VEZ, the template of which sold overseas (notably the British 3-2-1). The pseudonymous Makinov wrote, produced, shot, and edited the must-avoid COME OUT AND PLAY which only credited itself as an adaptation of Plans' novel but was pretty much an inferior remake of Serrador's film.

Released in the US by American International as ISLAND OF THE DAMNED – minus the disturbing footage of war atrocities under the titles – then as TRAPPED! (the latter with poster art that echoed VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED), and then as THE HEX MASSACRE in a double bill with Alberto de Martino's HOLOCAUST 2000 under the title LUCIFER'S CURSE (after it had been retitled THE CHOSEN) – and as then ISLAND OF DEATH (not to be confused with the Niko Mastorakis film) and DEATH IS CHILD'S PLAY (from Tigon) in the UK, WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? was one of the many AIP foreign pickups like THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED that wound up in limbo after their theatrical releases. A tape under the ISLAND OF DEATH title appeared in the UK during the pre-cert days although it ran considerably shorter than the 111 minute original or the American version that ran ten minutes shorter (although it may be possible some of the reissues were trimmed down to roughly ninety minutes). Dark Sky Films finally made the film available on DVD in 2007 with an anamorphic transfer featuring the original dub which mixed English and subtitled Spanish as well as an optional Spanish dub (which Serrador did not like since language was intended to be barrier to communication in the film) along with interviews with Serrador and cinematographer Jose Luis Alcaine (THE SKIN I LIVE IN). In 2011, Eureka Video in the UK released the film on DVD in an anamorphic transfer that had slightly more naturalistic colors compared to the sunbaked ones of the American edition while cropping the periphery of the image.

While THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED has since arrived on Blu-ray in compromised form – the US cut in good quality while the export version was a combination of the cut HD master and standard definition inserts – WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? has received an uncut 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen transfer from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative courtesy of Mondo Macabro with color timing that is in keeping with the Eureka transfer while the framing is virtually identical to the Dark Sky. While the sunbaked look of the Dark Sky DVD was preferable to the Eureka, the heightened detail of the high definition transfer better brings out the warmth in skin tones and the heat off of the white buildings of the island. While not a showcase of the burgeoning special make-up effects craft, the few onscreen gore effects that are present surprise in their grisliness. Four versions of the film are included via seamless branching of a single high-bitrate encode starting with the director's preferred mix of English and Spanish voicing in DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 with optional English subtitles for the Spanish-only bits, the full Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 dub with full optional English subtitles, and an alternate English DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 dub that is uncut but features fewer Spanish-only dialogues with optional English subtitles. These three versions run the full 112 minutes while the fourth version is the "Island of Death" cut representing the American theatrical version which excises the eight minute war atrocity montage – the abbreviated English credits run over the beach scene with the title coming up after the body washes up in the surf (the end credits remain in Spanish) – and a few other trims at 101:51. The audio of the shorter version is also a mix of English and Spanish in DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 with optional English subtitles for the Spanish.

Before Mondo Macabro's standard edition release of the film, a limited edition in a red case was available from their Big Cartel site that included a reversible cover with both images unique to this version, a booklet featuring a brand new essay by horror film expert Lee Gambin, and a series of postcards reproducing the US lobby cards. While this version is now sold out, Mondo Macabro's standard edition still has an impressive array of extras. Extras start off with a new audio commentary by film critics Kat Ellinger and Samm Deighan who discuss the impact of the opening war atrocity sequence – noting that it was not history the viewing audience of the time who would have been children during the Second World War and the Spanish Civil War while Vietnam was fresher in their minds – and parallels to THE WICKER MAN. Ellinger also discusses the anti-war, anti-pollution source novel which she compares to early James Herbert with the sexualization of the children compared to the film, and its differing explanation of the cause. They also note that the couple were Spanish nationals in the book while the British characters in the film would be more likely to expect things to be different and strange in a foreign place (noting some other contemporaneous stranger in a foreign country thrillers like AND SOON THE DARKNESS and A CANDLE FOR THE DEVIL), as well as how the film critiques Spain and it's not so distant Fascist past from the perspective of Uruguay-born Serrador as the son of Spanish actor Narciso Ibáñez Menta (NIGHT OF THE WEREWOLF) and Argentinian actress Pepita Serrador (FIVE FACES OF WOMEN) and their possible influences on his literary upbringing and film career.

Ported over from the Dark Sky release is "Child Director" (9:13), an interview with Serrador in which he discusses the novel which he claims was written after his screenplay, noting the differences including the explanation of yellow pollen that he found absurd, as well as his perspective that violence is innate him human beings that should be overcome. "Who Could Shoot a Child" (16:07; in Spanish with English subtitles) is an interview with cinematographer Alcaine who recalls meeting Serrador but realizing that he had met him before long ago when he was working in his father's camera shop, and his view of the film as a cross between THE BIRDS and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and their desire for a naturalistic look rather than gothic gloom to add to the realism (with only the enclosed setting of the island a concession to the horror genre).