Shot off the coast of Mexico's Yucatan on the small island of Holbox (which creepy enough means 'Black Hole' in Yucatec Maya) it was perfect for Makinov's film as the population isn't over 500 and it's mostly all kids. There's virtually no vehicles on the small island, ran by children, because vehicles are not allowed entrance at all. This calls for a horror film to be shot there, right?
Come Out and Play is a remake of the 1976 Spanish cult, "Who Can Kill a Child?" and Makinov answers that question in his film with a resounding "I can, and I can kill a bunch of them!"
The story follows an American couple, Francis (played by Ebon Moss- Bachrach) and his pregnant wife, Beth (Vinessa Shaw) who are on a vacation (to work on things in their marriage) at Mexico's famous street festival, Carnival.
Francis (Bachrach) rents a boat from a local fisherman to take his wife on an overnight excursion on the island. When they arrive they're greeted by kids playing on the dock. As the couple walk into the little town they quickly realize how quiet and void of any adults the town is. With the empty white sand streets of the village town and the bizarre 70's science fiction-zombie music playing throughout the whole film the director successfully creates an atmosphere of solitude and strangeness.
As the couple decided to head further into town to find the adults they come upon a little girl hitting an elder man with his cane. Not long after, Francis witnesses the old man being drug through the street into a yard where a horde of laughing children with rocks and knives wait. That's when the film begins the pick up the pace, culminating into a 'do anything to survive the night' gory horror.
Although 'Come Out and Play' is being compared to other 'crazy kids killing adults' films like 'Children of the Corn'(1984), 'The Brood'(1979) and 'Village of the Damned'(1995) (as it should be) the director takes a horrific story idea that has been done several times, and brings it back to life in a creatively artistic fashion.
The 35 year old actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Francis), who looks amazingly like country singer, Blake Shelton (judge on the, The Voice), is the real driving force behind the heart-investment viewers will give to this film. As the husband (Francis) who feels a responsibility for putting his pregnant wife in this horrible nightmare, and the urgency to do anything he can to save her, Bachrach plays his role strongly. Although Bachrach's not a name too many people know yet as he usually plays 'the person of interest' or 'the friend of a friend', some of his work includes: 'The Lake House' (2006) where he played Henry Wyler, Craig Young in the television show 'Rubicon', and Nick Salenger in 'Damages'. I have a feeling that after his performance in 'Come Out and Play', we'll see more of him.
For a director (Makinov) who had never worked with actors before, was responsible for directing, producing, editing, doing all the camera work, and on top of it never took his mask off (according to an interview with Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Makinov even spent some full days directing from inside a refrigerator and only ate food in stick form because it fit through the mouth-hole of his mask), I'd say "Well done".
Over all, I really enjoyed Makinov's re-imagination of the original 'Who Can Kill A Child?' It is really gory at times, and I found myself watching some scenes through the safety of my hand over my eyes. There are a few questions the story leaves unanswered like; what happened to the children in the first place?, why did the young couple choose to go deeper into the creepy adult-free town once they realized no one was running the stores or hotels?, and screw gas, why didn't they get back in their boat and head towards Mexico which would've been better than staying the night on an evil island running rampant with kids who want to kill you?
Out of a rating of 1 - 10 I give 'Come Out and Play'a strong 7.
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