Friday, November 30, 2007

The Children

     The Children is another wonderful yet practically impossible movie to find. It's one of Troma's least popular movies (at least in comparison to "Toxic Avenger" and "Class of Nuke 'em High).  I can't imagine why because it's a jewel of a movie. It's a totally classic film featuring Troma's most patented story plot, the side effects of nuclear waste. 

      A school bus is bringing happy singing kids home and passes through a suspicious yellow cloud. We learn that a nearby nuclear facility has had an uncontainable leak of toxic waste. The bus and children do not arrive home as scheduled and when the school bus is finally located off to the side of the road, the bus driver and all the children are missing. 

     Pretty soon, the youngsters are seen walking around in a trance-like state and have mysterious black fingernails. When parents go to hug them, the parent begins to smoke, burn, and are eventually reduced to a blistered pile of goo that only sort of resembles a human. The children hug and melt parents, siblings, babysitters, etc. for most of the movie (very cheesy special effects that are really side-splittingly funny). 

      Pretty soon the problem is recognized and the children are exterminated. All seems well, but soon afterward when one of the main characters' wives gives birth... the child has mysterious black fingernails. Much like the movie "Village of the Damned", this film has a special kind of creepiness to it because it uses innocent-looking children as murderous monsters. One of Troma's better films and well worth seeking out!

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