Creepy, homicidal children have long been a staple of the horror genre. This week brings the release of brand new movie Children of the Corn, the eleventh entry in the long-running franchise. It comes on the heels of Homebound arriving on SCREAMBOX and the release of Roxanne Benjamin’s new movie There’s Something Wrong with the Children on VOD outlets.
Kids are always terrifying. This week’s streaming picks highlight just how unsettling they can be; there’s nothing sweet about these little homicidal maniacs.
As always, here’s where you can watch them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
The Good Son – Starz
Anyone familiar with Home Alone’s Kevin McCallister and his ruthless handling of home intruders likely won’t find it difficult to buy Macaulay Culkin’s villainous turn in this psychological horror movie. But Culkin turns up the terror here in a compelling way. Elijah Wood stars opposite Culkin in this 1993 release as Mark, a young boy sent to his aunt and uncle’s home while his dad is away on business. Mark bonds with his cousin Henry (Culkin) until he quickly realizes Henry is a psychopath obsessed with death. While Henry may not pile up the body count like other killer kids, that doesn’t make him any less terrifying. The central performances and a satisfying ending make The Good Son a fun watch.
Hard Candy – freevee, Kanopy, Plex, Pluto TV, Tubi, Vudu
30 Days of Night director David Slade’s psychological horror movie takes no prisoners. Elliot Page stars as 14-year-old Hayley Stark, a young teen embroiled in an online sexual flirtation with 32-year-old Jeff (Patrick Wilson). They meet in person at a coffee shop, where Jeff then invites Hayler over to his place, leading to an impromptu photo shoot. Things escalate when drinks get drugged and violence ensues; but who is the cat, and who is the mouse? Hard Candy is intense, and its grim subject matter only heightens the unease to a palpable degree. Slade and screenwriter Brian Nelson more than succeed in challenging their audience, ensuring you won’t forget this brutal shocker.
The Innocents – AMC+, Shudder
The Innocents is a provocative look at the fine razor line between good and evil and the darker side of innocence. Four compelling performances ground the disturbing horror, adding complex emotions and morality to fuel the tension. Writer/Director Eskil Vogt crafts a stunning portrayal of childhood morality with a tale of four children discovering supernatural abilities over a summer. Vogt twists the knife further by setting it under the bright Nordic sun; the terror these kids commit happens right under the adults’ noses, often in plain sight, with no one the wiser. The emotional authenticity heightens the horror, creating one of the most viscerally disturbing depictions of childhood in recent memory.
Sinister – Peacock
True crime author Ellison Oswalt has uprooted his family and moved them into a home where a family was previously murdered, unbeknownst to them. He’s researching the murder for his new book, hoping the research will lead him to the whereabouts of the murdered family’s missing 10-year-old girl. When he finds a box of Super 8 home movies in the attic, he discovers the murder might be the work of a serial killer whose work dates back to the 1960s. Except, the killers featured in each are children. Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill’s feature consistently ranks high among the scariest horror movies, and it’s not hard to see why. Eerie atmosphere, iconic jump scares, creepy kids, and a memorable boogeyman make for a chilling entry in the killer kid canon.
Them – Arrow, freevee, Tubi, Vudu
Them, also known as Ils, predates the more well-known The Strangers by two years yet rivals it in terms of bone-chilling suspense from start to finish. Lucas and Clementine live quietly alone in their rural countryside home. Their peaceful existence gets shattered one night by the arrival of hooded assailants that terrorize them throughout the evening. This French-Romanian home invasion movie brings intensity and nail-biting tension. How creepy kids enter the equation is even more unnerving. While touted as “based on a true story,” it also rivals The Strangers in its unsettling one-liner regarding the killers’ motivation.
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