Unseen Horrors: 'Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things'

Theatrical release poster

In horror, the zombie sub-genre is an ever-popular, ever-growing means to scare audiences across the globe. Prior to the release of George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead,” zombie films revolved around voodoo curses placed on the living causing the afflicted to fall into a trance. The bearer of the curse was then under the control of whoever placed the curse upon them. After Romero’s film (which was heavily influenced by the novel “I Am Legend” by Richard Matheson), zombies were transformed into blood thirsty walking corpses, without any thought except a need to feed on the living. Now, some 40 plus years later, Romero’s idea has been seen in countless films, some of which the general public has never heard about. One such movie is the 1972 horror/comedy “Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things.”

A group of actors head to a deserted burial island off the coast of Florida with the intent of starting a new project. The director, Alan (Alan Ormsby), is a bizarre young man, who has come to the island mainly to play practical jokes and torture his cast. After unearthing a corpse, Alan leads a séance in an attempt to raise the dead. When Alan’s attempt fails, the gang retreats to an abandoned house, bringing along the unearthed corpse at the director’s command. Upon arriving at the house, Alan subjects the members of his cast to various mean spirit jokes, while showing no respect for his new dead friend. The cast eventually has enough of Alan’s tomfoolery and attempts to leave, only to be met by a graveyard full of walking corpses.

“Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things” isn’t the kind of movie that will appeal to the casual horror fan. The cast of eccentric characters will aggravate many first time viewers. Alan Ormsby, who went on to direct the Ed Gein biopic “Deranged,” gave a performance which was described as “...one of the most obnoxious screen performances in history." The statement is true, but Ormsby’s performance only matches the character written on the page. It is an effective performance if only to make the audience hate him, which they should.

The rest of the cast does a respectable job, with this being a low-budget indie film, consisting of mostly first time actors and friends of director Benjamin “Bob” Clark. As for the technical aspects of the film? There are several out of focus shots, a few odd editing choices, and consistantly bad lighting, but none of it takes away from the film as a whole. The final battle of living against dead is frightening enough, but the film’s most terrifying moment is when Alan comes face to face with the reanimated butt of all his jokes.

A remake of “Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things” was in the works back in 2007, but tragically, director Bob Clark was killed in a car accident along with his 22-year-old son, struck by a drunk driver. Even with Clark’s passing, he left behind a legacy. Clark shot another zombie film back to back with "Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things" entitled “Deathdream,” in which a deceased Vietnam veteran comes home and commits several murders to use his victim’s blood to keep him from decaying. Clark achieved his first real success directing “Black Christmas” in 1974, the movie that originated the “call is coming from inside the house” scenario, which many falsely attribute to 1979’s “When a Stranger Calls.”

After “Black Christmas,” Clark left the horror genre behind, going on to direct the first two “Porky’s” movies and the now staple of the holiday season, “A Christmas Story.” He finished his career directing the children’s movies “Baby Geniuses,” “The Karate Dog,” and “SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2,” all of which were universally panned by critics and audiences alike. If not for a drunk driver in April of 2007, we could have seen Bob Clark return to the genre where he got his start.
 

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