I believe it has a lot to do with
children being just like us, yet being different enough to stand
apart, especially when there is something "off" about them
(like the blonde wigs they used on the dark-haired children of
Village of the Damned). The same goes for elderly people. Give
them subtle macabre makeup or make them move strangely, and they can
be absolutely frightening (the old-lady scene from It Follows
springs to mind here). And when we are menaced by those over whom we
thought to have absolute control – those who are smaller, weaker,
and intellectually less developed – then is
there anything left besides feeling utterly powerless?
Is this one of the first reference
books on this particular topic to ever be published?
I have found one academic book in
English, focusing on only a handful of classics (The Bad Seed,
Village of the Damned), and one in French, equally serious in
tone and aimed at literature. However, Evil Seeds is the only
reference book that covers nearly all of the evil-child movies ever
made (nearly 250 feature films from 40 different countries, and even
more minor evil-child appearances in other movies). I wanted to
create a book that not only gives readers insight into the stories
they love, but also gives them plenty of new ones to discover.
How is Evil Seeds different
from your previous reference guides?
When Animals Attack and Strange
Blood very much started with the contributors and their unique
vision on, and experience with the film. They were odes of love to
particular films within the subgenres of animal-attack movies and
offbeat vampire movies. Evil Seeds, on the other hand, is
encyclopedic in nature as it covers nearly all the titles that exist
within this particular subgenre.
 |
| Vanessa Morgan, author |
What is your favorite ‘evil kid’
flick and why?
I'm completely in love with The
Children of Ravensback (1980).
I realize it's not the most intelligent or classy evil-kid movie out
there – on the contrary – but it contains all of the elements
that make a movie like this fun: creepy children, lots of murder
scenes, subtle humor, and a great atmosphere. At the beginning of
September, I screened and introduced this film at the BUT Film
Festival in Breda, the Netherlands, to people who had never even
heard of The Children before, and they were all in stitches.
And what a delight to see my favorite on the big screen.
Do
you have a particular recollection of seeing any of these films for
the first time? How did it affect you as a young writer?
The
first evil children that come to mind that scared me were the Grady
twins from The Shining and the brothers from Salem's Lot.
I watched Children of the Corn countless times on television
when I was in my teens, but I don't think it holds up that well. I
remember showing Bloody Birthday to my younger siblings, who
weren't into horror at all but thought the film was amazing
(especially the nudity) and wanted to watch it over and over again. I
was also lucky enough to see The Good Son (1993) in cinemas as
well. All these films started a passion that resulted in this book.
Do you find that there are
characteristics of this sub genre that are unique to the different
countries that produced them?
I love this question because I think
this is the more interesting aspect of a book like this one. As with
other film genres, these tropes often mirror the culture in which
they are produced. In India, horror movies about evil children often
involve the fear of black magic, whereas Ireland loves tackling
fairytales about elves and changelings. In the Philippines, the evil
baby Tiyanak is part of the cultural heritage. As the country grew
its religious belief systems, the Tiyanak's characteristics evolved
accordingly. Once the Spanish colonized the Philippines, the
inhabitants were Christianized. The population copied the Christian
values that abortion and non-baptizing are sins, so the myth
transformed into Tiyanaks
being souls of babies who died before baptism and later evolved into
vengeful spirits from aborted fetuses.
On the other hand, the appeal of movies
such as The Exorcist and The Omen was so huge
internationally, that their cinematic influence was felt in countries
where Christianity and the Devil weren't part of the main religious
belief system (such as Egypt, India, Turkey, Japan, or Hong Kong),
and this resulted in unofficial remakes and copycats.
What can your readers expect from
you next?
I have MANY ideas for upcoming movie
reference guides, and I probably won't wait too long to start a new
one because I love the process of creating a book like this and
introducing readers to obscure movies. But I have other projects I
need to finish first – organizing the Offscreen Film Festival in
Brussels, renovating my new apartment, writing the screenplay and
short story that I already said yes to, and in between all that,
promoting this book and cuddling my cat Romero.
