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Devil's Spawn...Evil Children in Books and Films

 
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bnix



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 645

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 2:27 am    Post subject: Devil's Spawn...Evil Children in Books and Films Reply with quote

In a thread a few days ago ,we were discussing the children in the novel"A High Wind in Jamaica"...as I remember(been awhile since I read the book)...the evil of the children(well,at least one of them)was juxtaposed against the pirates. ..who really were not that bad at all...in comparison to the children,who one would expect to be innocent.As I said,it has been awhile since I read the book.

Other examples:the film "The Bad Seed' (from the fifties I believe)...about an angelic little girl who murdered people.....the extraterrestrial spawn in "Village of the Damned"(from Wyndham's novel"The Midwich Cuckoos")....two versions of the original film.which also spawned(sorry,couldn't resist it!) a sequel "Children of the Damned".

Also the clawed and fanged mutant baby in the film "It's Alive"(the baby ,immediately after delivery,killed the doctor,nurse,other delivery staff)...and its inevitable sequel,called(of course)"It's Alive Again".

Piggy and friends in "Lord of the Flies"...the children in "The Innocents"...based on the James book "Turn of the Screw"..

My personal favorite is the little monster(one hesitates to call him a boy)in the Jerome Bixby short story "It's a GOOD Life"(not to be confused with that Jimmy Stewart movie "It's a Wonderful Life"which they always show around Christmas).I do not remember the little monster's name in the Bixby story.I believe it was the basis for one of the vignettes in the ill fated movie:"Twilight Zone:The Movie." In the movie,the little kid(monster),along with other atrocities(he has ESP and other paranormal powers) transports someone he does not like INTO a cartoon on television...and the unfortunate person is pursued and gobbled up by a cartoon monster.

Of course...there is always "Rosemary's Baby"...anyone else think of any?
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johnslat



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 3:22 am    Post subject: Defending Piggy Reply with quote

Dear bnix,
Whoa - hold on there. Piggy was one of the " good kids " ( along with, of course, Ralph and Simon ), the " resident ineffectual intellectual ". It's savage Jack and evil Roger, in particular, who are the " bad 'uns ".
Regards,
John
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bnix



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 645

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 3:35 am    Post subject: Sredni Vashtar Reply with quote

Yes,Johnslat.You are right."Piggy' was one of the good kids in "lord of the Flies"It has been a long time since i read that one,too.

Another possible"evil kid'...the boy in Saki(H.H. Munro's) short story "Sredni Vashtar"......Sredni Vashtar is a pet polecat(?) ferret? which the boy worships...and which eventually kills the boy's aunt...
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Seth



Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Posts: 575
Location: in exile

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 4:43 am    Post subject: Get thee behind me, children! Reply with quote

Why an 'evil children' thread? Do you work at a private primary school, too?

I can film the kids in my school and make a movie out of it. It'll be more scary than Scot47 at a backpackers hostel.
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zakiah25



Joined: 09 Feb 2003
Posts: 155
Location: Oman

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 8:15 am    Post subject: m..m..m... Reply with quote

Now Bnix - I can't help wondering what's behind all of this - aren't you getting a little macarbe, malevolent, and perhaps a trifle morose or even maledictious with this topic? Completely un-mordant!
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Glenski



Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 12844
Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 8:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Children of the Corn
The Omen
Ghost Story
Carrie (well, her classmates, anyway, were pretty rotten)
To Sir With Love (had some pretty beastly kids)
practically any movie dealing with witchcraft
a handful of X Files episodes
Do the Addams Family kids count?
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slaqdog



Joined: 29 Apr 2003
Posts: 211

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 8:41 pm    Post subject: a LITTLE DEVIL Reply with quote

I nominate the child in Vargas Llosas' book " In Praise of the Stepmother" the little tyke of about 8yo seduces said mother in law in order to discredit her with his father--the scene with the line ''Daddy what's an orgasm?" is a gem. What a little devil! Twisted Evil
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bnix



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 645

PostPosted: Wed Apr 30, 2003 9:15 pm    Post subject: Zakiah...It's Macabre... Reply with quote

Not "macarbe".Only joshing you. Smile By the way.'Macabre" was the title of a movie directed by William Castle.A real stinkeroo.He also directed "Mr.Sardonicus" and "The Tingler"...a movie with a real gimmick.This beastie,the Tingler, fed on human fear and it could only be destroyed by screaming really loudly.Some of the theaters actually had this thing rigged up on a rope to drop out among the audience and "tingle" them during the movie.Castle's movies also often had other gimmicks....like a nurse out in the lobby to take people's blood pressure before and after the movies...and an insurance policy for "death by fright"(bogus,of course0

No,Zakiah,I am just bored...not so mordant...and hassling with the local ingrown bureaucracy here over contract renewal,etc.

Well,sure ,Glenski...we can count the Addams kids.Pugsley and Wednesday...and also Eddie Munster ,for that matter.

I have never heard of that book Slagdog mentions...but it surely sounds interesting,,,so does his location....Baku.
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Shaman



Joined: 06 Apr 2003
Posts: 446
Location: Hammertown

PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2003 12:00 am    Post subject: Wee Wretched Monsters! Reply with quote

A few more films to add to the list:

The Other (adapted from the novel by Tom Tryon)
Heavenly Creatures
Kids (VERY raw, unpleasant watch)
The Good Son (with a very bad little McCauley Culkin)
The Exorcist (good girl gone bad)

Shaman
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Seth



Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Posts: 575
Location: in exile

PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2003 12:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

In the Ingmar Bergman film 'Hour of the Wolf' a little kid attacks the main character for no apparent reason. The scene ends with the guy drowning the kid in the sea. Question
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bnix



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 645

PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2003 12:19 am    Post subject: Sequel to the "Exorcist"...."Repossessed" Reply with quote

That was a joke that was making the rounds.
Anyway,Shaman's list is very interesting.The actual sequel to "The Exorcist",with Richard Burton(!) as a priest.Very odd,almost hallucinogenic movie including a very bizarre sequence in a walled city somewhere in Africa... The sequel bombed at the box office...unlike the original,which was a huge commercial success.

"The Other"...very strange film...from a very strange book by Tom Tryon.

I have never seen "The Good Son"...never heard pf "Kids'....it sounds like one of those retchy kind of films to me.
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Stephen Jones



Joined: 21 Feb 2003
Posts: 4124

PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2003 9:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dear Shaman,
The very bad litlle McCauley Culkin presumably referred to his actiing!
They actually changed the original ending of the film where the good kid was dropped instead of the bad one. Ian McKellan was so furious he dissaciated himself from the film altogether.
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Shaman



Joined: 06 Apr 2003
Posts: 446
Location: Hammertown

PostPosted: Thu May 01, 2003 3:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dear Stephen Jones

I had never heard about the original proposed ending. Of course, there had to be the ubiquitous happy ending. In this case it's two-fold. The good kid (Elijah Wood) goes on to eventual fame as Frodo (with Sir Ian McKellan, no less), whereas the bad kid (Culkin) is never seen again. Sometimes life is stranger than fiction... Laughing

Shaman
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mrAndrew



Joined: 07 May 2003
Posts: 12
Location: Portland, Oregon

PostPosted: Thu May 08, 2003 3:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What about "Gumo" (kids and cats) they don't get along in this one
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