5/5 superb movie but... extras?
  by GODFREY HAMILTON (HOLLYWOOD, CA USA)
The Children is a brilliant, low-budget, intimate horror from the UK that delivers its shocks and sense of dread in bright winter sunlight, in dazzlingly lit rooms full of glittering Xmas cheer, inside a beautiful country house. It amounts to a superb evocation of family breakdown in the face of crisis (I disagree with a reviewer who wanted a more explanatory history of the virus; even the microscope-eye-view of the multiplying viral culprit was unnecessary). The irritating young upper-middle-class professionals get their come-uppance, as it were, for paying so little attention to their children and are compelled (by their unwillingness to face up to their own realities) to blame one another for the domestic apocalypse breeding around them and specifically to accuse the astute and intuitive Casey, the teenage daughter who IS paying attention and sees exactly what's happening, but whose burgeoning sexuality is more than the "adults" want to acknowledge (especially Chloe, who doesn't like the dubious attention her husband is giving Casey). Hannah Tointon's hypnotising performance as Casey is the anchor of the movie - she's clearly going to be a major screen actress in years to come. But all the performances are great, although a lot of women viewers (not to mention we gay men) will be disappointed that mega-hunky Jeremy Sheffield (SPOILER COMING UP!) meets such an early and horrifying end. Ultimately the movie suggests that the "adults" are the ones behaving like untrustworthy children, while the actual kids are in the thrall of a kind of viral anomie and bewilderment that can only express itself in rage at the world they've been born into. A deeply unsettling and stunningly achieved movie. And it's full of brief but telling details - a viewer on IMDB has observed, for example, that Casey's "foetal" tattoo is a reproduction of the cover art for Sigur Ros's 'Agaetis Byrjun'.
One caveat re the US DVD - is it just me, or are some of the Special Features promised on the box - 'Snow Set design'/ 'Inside Tom Shankland's Lair'/ 'Micro video featuring In This Moment' - not repeat NOT among the actual Special Features available on the disc????

4/5 KIDS DO THE DARNDEST THING
  by Michael Butts (Martinsburg, WV USA)
A Christmas gathering goes horribly awry in this chiller. Some kind of virus affects foue darling youngsters who turn murderously aggressive. Starting out sinisterly slow, the movie builds as the youngsters start bumping off the adults. I wish there had been some kind of back story on what/where the virus started but it's the ambiguity that makes it all the more frightening. Watch this with ORPHAN and OFFSPRING and you may never want to have kids!

3/5 Not great. Not good either.
  by Steven M. Quinn (USA)
The film has some moments of suspense, but it made me want to watch The Brood or Orphan. The adults are all one dimensional and completely unlikeable. You won't care when they die. There are a lot of moments that definitely speak..."not enough money to show that". The music was too much...it was very "oh something creepy is happening, well not yet..but soon...no no no" The ending was a little too abrupt and the the film was just too bright. It might have been more effective if it was shot at night. It might even have saved the film. It's worth one viewing.

4/5 Creepy
  by DonMac (Lynn, MA United States)
A nice refreshing change of pace from all the torture terrors. Just nice, fun, homicidal children. Actually, this is a great little chiller because it had a few ingredients other horror films seem to lack these days: real suspense, eerie soundtrack, and a really good sense of tension. Quite enjoyable for the thriller-lover. recommended. (and a good excuse to skip the next famly function or join planned parenthood).

1/5 these kids need a spanking
  by Joseph L. Kolb (harris, mn USA)
the cover says it was from the creators of the evil dead trilogy. that's all. i know this is sam raimi's imprint, but i'm not sure if there is more involvement or what, but i couldn't disagree more with the previous reviewers. if this is the best ghost house release, then it's not saying much about their material (rue morgue magazine is critical of their releases too). like everyone says, some flu type virus hits only the kids and they kill off the adults. this movie definately makes the kids look brilliant and the adults look like idiots. the teenage girl (hannah tointon) was the highlight of this movie. very good looking and a smokin' body. none of the other kids nor the adults were likeable. it's a very forgetable movie. one, two viewings at best and it will be collecting dust on your dvd shelf.