Children of Wrath: Genesis - The Beginning - DVD

Film: Children of Wrath is a true phenomenon in its own way. Based on a short story by Stephen King that was first published in the men's magazine Penthouse in 1977, it was a low budget horror film starring Linda Hamilton (Terminator) and Peter Horton in 1984. Based on its cost of around $3 million, the film was a considerable success, so a sequel soon followed and was still released in theaters, at least in the US. By 2001, a total of seven installments in the series had been produced, followed by a TV remake of the first film in 2009. It's truly a miracle that a short story can produce so much material. But it is also not surprising that the later parts of the series have steadily declined in quality. Nevertheless, the Children of Wrath still enjoy a decent popularity, which has now brought forth another part.

Part 8 is subtitled Genesis - The Beginning. But although there are quite a few references to the town of Gatlin and him walking behind the lines, the film ultimately has very little to do with Stephen King's story and the earlier films. Only the initial situation remains the same: a young couple, Tim (Tim Rock) and his pregnant girlfriend Alice (Kelen Coleman), have their car break down while traveling through California and are stranded in the middle of nowhere. In a remote house, they hope to find help. The occupants, an aging priest (Billy Drago) and his much younger wife (Barbara Nedeljakova), reluctantly allow the couple in. They are allowed to stay the night, provided they don't snoop around and just mind their own business. But that, of course, is easier said than done. For when Alice hears strange noises coming from an old shed while going to the outside toilet, she makes a disturbing discovery. And soon it's more than questionable whether the young couple will make it through the night alive...

Although Tim and Alice never really become sympathetic to the viewer, their fate is still quite captivating, at least in the beginning. The atmosphere is dark and oppressive and Billy Drago as the mysterious priest provides a fair amount of insanity, which is very much to the film's overall benefit. Barbara Nedeljakova, known for a small role in the first Hostel movie, is not allowed to do much more than show off her charms. But because she doesn't fit at all into the priest and his run-down house, she also seems threatening in a certain way. Like the main characters, the viewer quickly feels trapped in the creepy house and there is actually something like suspense.

But unfortunately the whole thing takes a turn in the second half, swapping real horror for supernatural mumbo-jumbo. The fact that this, due to the very low budget, is then also conveyed with very meager effects and surprisingly few real shock effects, makes the film then actually more of a mystery thriller, as a genuine horror. The rather wooden acting of Tim Rock and Kelen Coleman doesn't really help to keep the entertainment value of the film on a good level.

Who has followed the Children of the Wrath series so far, will have to admit that there have been much worse parts in this qualitatively never really particularly worthy, but still somehow entertaining series. Children of Wrath: Genesis - The Beginning has some well-done moments and a certain potential for suspense. So if you're a fan of the franchise, you can safely take a look here. But if you're hoping for more than a fairly decent low budget mystery film, at least at the beginning, you'd better find yourself another babysitter for these angry kids.

Picture + Sound: The film's not exactly overly high budget is also noticeable in the film's audiovisuals. Especially in the numerous darker scenes, some weaknesses can be discerned in the detail representation and also slight image noise can be detected here and there. Otherwise, however, the implementation of the clean image is on a good level, whereby especially the atmospheric coloring is positively noticeable. As for the sound, it's noticeable that the dialogue is mixed a little too quietly here and there, and that the original English track has much more accentuated ambient sounds and other minor surround effects. However, the tonal action is never really exciting, with only the finale showcasing some decent sound effects.

Extras: The only bonus features are trailers.

Conclusion: The Children of Wrath enters its eighth round. However, the advertised journey to the beginnings of the story only marginally still has something to do with the original short story by Stephen King and the predecessor films. The home theater premiere is a in parts decent horror thriller, which is unfortunately too much lost in clichés and absurdities after a successful beginning. Within the series, however, there have been significantly worse films, which is why the bottom line (despite the lack of bonus material) is just a well-intentioned worth seeing for fans of the franchise!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp