MANUEL ORTEGA LASAGA REFLECTS ABOUT WHO CAN KILL A CHILD?

By Manuel Ortega Lasaga (*)

With only two feature films, Chicho Ibáñez Serrador is a name that fills the Spanish cinema with pride. He’s also respected for his very successful Quiz shows on TV and other popular horror stuff.

Not much can be said of a movie about which it has all probably been said and that is unanimously acclaimed as a master piece.

Ironically I saw WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? when I was a kid. I’d just read about it and my mother -ironically again- recommended it. I remember it was showed on TV and I watched it feeling quite excited. It made me flip out from the first dreadful documentary images to its violent end.

Some years later, in a second viewing, I could enjoy the original version, where the main characters speak English, creating a communication barrier with the rest of the roles. That makes it all more stifling.

It’s cool how a disturbing atmosphere is created by some naive stuff like its credits typography or the music and other special characteristics such as the Mediterranean sets, the photography in broad daylight, the enigma of why it happens, and of course, an original “monster” which gives rise to the question from the title itself.

This film is, for me, the most flawless and wildest out of those titles containing devilish children like Village of the Damned (1960), The Children (1980) or Children of the Corn (1984), to which it is linked. And its recent remake can’t beat the original.

I usually list it as one of my favourite horror movies, and nowadays, I still consider it owns some of the most violent scenes ever in the cinema history. Especially if we keep in mind its year of production.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Manuel Ortega Lasaga (Spain, 1980) is a filmmaker who has always been characterized by his second-rate-movie touch, a good amount of black humor and irreverence and quite a few references to grotesque, fantasy and gore genres. His most renowned titles are SANTIAGO MARTÍNEZ, UFOS AND ALIENS HUNTER and his latest work ANOTHER’S MAN TEETH.