Rent Come Out and Play (2012)

Come Out and Play (aka Juego de niños) review by Alyse Garner - Cinema Paradiso

Based on a little known Spanish horror movie from the mid 1970’s Come out and Play is the debut film from a bizarre and outspoken director who is only ever seen in public wearing a red, bloodied mask and goes only by the name Makinov.

The film is a fairly standard horror movie about couple, Beth and Francisco, who venture to a remote island as part of their last intimate vacation before their first child is born. Beth, heavily pregnant, and Francisco arrive on a beautiful island off the coast of Mexico and initially contribute the absence of any adults to the aftermath of a particularly raucous festival, when however Francisco witnesses the brutal murder of a fisherman, things on the island do not seem quite so peaceful.

For a man who boasts a wild and untamable personality Come out and Play is relatively placid; the violence only really occurs intermittently and although some of the Ariel shots and hand held camera is a little unusual, visually the film is also not especially expressive. In many ways the film relies on the typical tropes of the demon-child vein of the genre, with much of the horror relying on slowly pent up tension and children who may initially appear sweet and welcoming become distant and dangerous as the narrative progresses.

The finale is a welcome surprise to what is otherwise a reasonable yet unremarkable movie that is bound to entertain horror fanatics but is unlikely to gain the notoriety Makinov was hoping for.