Wicked Little Things (DVD, 2007)

Touted in the Lionsgate trailers as something "too strong" for ordinary horror audiences, this one doesn't contain a single frame of anything that the "ordinary horror audience" hasn't seen a million times over in better movies.

A young mother and her two daughters, one of them a surly teen and the other a compelling preteen in the Dakota Fanning mold, move into a rundown house in the woods in Middle Of Nowhere, Pennsylvania. Could there be Bad Things In Store for our babes in the woods? How about that old abandoned mineshaft where a bunch of kids were killed decades ago in a cave-in?

Simple logic can sometime be a film's own worst enemy. For instance, why, if the local general store is plastered with missing people, why hasn't it attracted the FBI and local authorities to this area? What about the fact that our young mother heroine doesn't seem concerned that her front door doesn't lock? What are the rules with this movie? Are the kids ghosts? If they are, why do they eat people? What were the ramifications of the fact that the teenage daughter was in a car with three other teens who happened to be hacked to death, after which she drove one of the victim's car to safety? Aren't any outsiders, like the parents of the victims, curious about what happened? The protagonists are mildly compelling, and the acting is fairly competent from most of the cast. We do wonder why they do stupid things like go down into dark basements, run their cars off the road, and forget how to make vehicles start in moments of mortal danger, but if they did not do these things, there would be no movie. What really gets me is that the mother looks way to close the same age as her teenage daughter. What's up with that?

The music is a problem. For most of the time, the score seems to have taken the evening off, and instead we hear dreamlike sound effects, childlike voices, and the usual ghost story drivel. A real soundtrack could have beefed this up considerably. The sets and cinematography are very well done, but doesn't stand out. Some of the sets, like the coal mine, are a little too well lit, and would have been scarier if we couldn't see all of it. The gore is inspired, and there are some fleeting shots of terribly mutilated cast members.

The film tries a bit too hard at times to grab our attention. Are we to actually believe that the young mother of two daughters would just let her youngest walk out into the woods by herself without going to get any kind of help. Especially ridiculous was the scene where the small girl was walking out of the dark mine like she had enjoyed being down there with her supposed new friend. The screenplay fails to build any believability into the interactions between the characters and the ghost zombie children. It's like this film speaks the language of horror, but with a terribly bad accent. I've seen Ren and Stimpie episodes that were scarier than this. The zombie ghost children simply are not at all scary. They look like adolescent goth children with black contact lenses and a little dirt on their faces. A zombie should at least be threatening. They didn't move in a threatening way, and perhaps the most ridiculous thing, which spoils the entire film for me is that we see the ghost children way too much. There's no character in the way they behave. Sometimes they appear out of nowhere like ghosts, other times they just bounce along together in a group like regular kids. There's no dread whenever they're on camera.

I live in the coal country of Pennsylvania, and I was pleased to see that the makers of WICKED LITTLE THINGS got the backstory right. Yes, children as young as nine did work in coal mines, and the owners were more concerned with profit than with saving human lives. This movie could have actually happened (if children killed in mine cave-ins could come back as flesh-eating zombies!) And it stands to reason the zombies would be pretty pissed! The flesh-eating scenes, while bloody, are shot in almost total darkness so they're not overly gross. The teenage girl looks and behaves like a typical teenage girl, not a busty twenty-something bimbo. Best of all, the local convenience store owner, while not exactly friendly toward the new family moving in, is not actively hostile and his store is neither dirty nor stocked with merchandise from the 1950s. This above-average horror movie features strong female characters, a storyline that makes sense, and a few bloody killings (mostly victims who deserve it). Well worth watching.

ONE @$$-hole gave this a bad rating. WHY?? Without playing spoiler, i provided a well obective and fair review. Will you please give me a good review in place of the jerks bad one. many thanks and best personal regards... David

Now... here we go!
Helen Hunt should have had the lead here. It probably would not have done anything for her career though and the budget of the movie probably could not have swung a Helen Hunt. The cast how ever is good though but leans to the unknown side. Story is good. A young widow and 2 kids inherit a gloomy house up in the sticks in a barren hick town. It is smack in the middle of the woods haunted at night time by zombie eating children. How this came to be is up to you to watch the movie. You will be saddened by the reason for their existence and cheer them on to be avenged. Mean while Mom and the 2 daughters go through the 'norms' of scary sequences (no spoilers!) in this "Children Of The Corn" 'on STEROIDS' type movie. All it's missing is the stereotyped filler nude scenes'. There are none! If you liked Children Of The Corn, get this movie for less than $10 (including S&H) on eBay and it's worth the purchase.

DTD

So the after dark horrorfest has yet to impress me. Wicked Little Things is far from scary. The first 60 mins. boring, slow story, and not one once of scary. The story revolves around children as slave labor in the early 1900's that were abused and killed in a local coal mine. Well, their back and are thirsty for vengence and blood (literally). The highlight to this movie had to be the kids, who far from ghostly, kill anyone in sight and eat them. The acting was substandard, the story drug on and honestly leaves you frustrated that the ending was so simple. Please take heed in my advice that the movie cover art is probably the scariest part of this movie.

Definitely not a movie where you should eat while watching..."Night Of The Living Dead" wasn't this gory definitely a film horror movie buffs will want to see kinda like "Night Of The Living Dead meets "Children Of The Corn"..Be sure the Kids are asleep, if you do let them watch make sure you have plenty of room in your bed for everyone..Movie opens with a young Widow and her two Kids inheriting a old house near a mine where a tragedy happened, at night that tragedy is relived by everyone..newcomers included..buy or rent this movie, but be sure you eat before watching this..