Deadly hugs

As a school bus carrying five young students travels through the small town of Ravensback, somewhere in New England, it passes through a toxic cloud covering the road due to a leak at the local nuclear plant. When the kids don't return home from school it set the parents off in a panic to find their children. The local sheriff Billy Hart (Gil Rogers) begins to investigate the mystery first finding the bus, but there are no kids to be found. When the kids start showing up at their homes, their parents are ecstatic to find their kids have made it back seemingly unharmed, that is until they receive a toxic hug melting the flesh right off their bones, kicking off a battle of kids against parents. One by one the zombie children off their parents and begin stalking the town for other victims. One cop who is investigating the case finds three of the kids in the middle of the road he is traveling and soon meets his fate. The three children show up at the local store where a woman who works there quickly finds out the truth and intent of these cute yet nasty little demons. John Freemont (Martin Shaker) who is the father of one of the missing kids Jenny (Clara Evans) is with the sheriff when he finds her, and it doesn't take long for him to realize she is not the girl he remembers. In one scene one of the kids is taken down with a shotgun and gets back up, seemingly unfazed the child's hands are then sliced off. They leave the ending open for a sequel.

The Children was released in 1980, directed by Max Kalmanowicz and written by Edward Terry and Carlton J. Albright . The director used the sounds of cats in heat for the noise the children make when they are killed.

Some of the taglines include "It only takes five to hold a town in TERROR!", "Thank god they are somebody else's." and "Something terrifying has happened to the children... pray you never meet them!"

The score was composed by Harry Manfredini (Friday the 13th), helping to ratchet the tension when ever the kids appear on screen.

Good ol' Troma released this on DVD with a not so good "Re-mastering" of the film.

This is a low budget film that has more "so bad it's good" moments than genuinely scary moments. Although there are a few creepy scenes being the kids standing in the middle of the road and some POV shots. The scenes involving the kids killing their parents with skin melting hugs are just funny and not scary in any way, although the make-up effects of the melting victims is OK at best. Making a film about nuclear zombie children is really tough to make scary, and this film is a perfect example.

Rating: D
Review by Jason