Google+

Saturday, October 15, 2016

31 Days of Halloween 2016 - Day 15



Hellions
2015
Bruce McDonald


Hellions begins with Dora (Chloe Rose) discovering that she is pregnant. She doesn't handle it very well. She's quite upset, and doesn't want to tell anyone. What's weirder is she's starting to see odd signs: pools of blood, voices, and strange costumed children. Halloween night, a particular group of children keep pestering her, knocking on her windows, constantly banging on the door. She eventually stops answering, but that doesn't stop the children. Things start getting stranger when she encounters a cop (Robert Patrick) who seems to know more than he lets on.

Sitting down to watch Hellions, I figured it would just be another home invasion story, somewhere along the lines of Devil Times Five (1974) meets The Strangers (2008). I'm delighted when I'm wrong about a film, but I was a little shocked at how wrong I was. Hellions beings innocuously enough, but soon dives straight into hallucinatory weirdness. Hellions is awash in pink filters and the saturated pumpkins against a gloomy backdrop. The children are more monster than person, nasty little animals that tear unsuspecting (and the occasional very suspecting) people apart. I enjoyed the fact the film didn't prey on the viewer by showing children in violent situations just to provoke sympathy, these kids are literally monsters. They snarl and screech moving only to attack and torment. It's not always coherent, but I found it constantly engaging.

Today's Really Quite Tasty Trick and Treat:
Pumpkin Cakes

No comments:

Post a Comment