Like the original film it stems from, “Come Out and Play” offers the question “Who Can Kil a Child?” If your seven year old cherubic daughter was trying to murder you with a hammer, could you kill her? Laugh all you want, but if it comes down to me, and an evil eight year old intent on hacking me to death with an axe, I’ll gladly bring the child down and any other evil children trying to murder me with a machine gun.
If anything, “Come Out and Play” has two things going for it. Firstly, the director Makinov is a solid craftsman behind the camera, it’s just this movie doesn’t fit his artistic sensibilities. He tries to add this artistic indie gloss behind what is a remake of an exploitation horror film, and fails. Secondly, audiences bored by the film’s lagging pace and lack of tension might just go looking for the original film entitled “Who Can Kill a Child?” and see what the original did so much better.
I didn’t really hate this unnecessary remake of “Who Can Kill a Child?” mainly because Makinov provides us with an almost shot for shot remake. Every story beat is the same, from the stranded couple, the pregnant wife, and the twist ending. So while I didn’t hate it, I also did not enjoy it at all. Makinov spends more time on the couple stranded on this island for exposition, and then goes on for minutes on end as they spend a whole day on the island completely unaware there are no people around.
In the original film, the build up is quick and the couple put two and two together easily. Here characters Francis and wife Beth are so slow on the uptake audiences will eventually think “Really? You haven’t figured out something is wrong by now?” Makinov tries to distinguish himself from the first film by dodging the violence towards children as much as possible and amping up the gore. Some key scenes in the original are extended for no reason, while there’s an entire five minute montage emphasizing how deadly these kids are. They play with a decapitated head, one girl paints the toenails of a chopped off foot, and a girl makes a necklace out of human ears. We get it, they’re deadly.
The stars of “Come Out and Play” don’t have much to do in the film beyond react and run around the island. Though Makinov tries his best to give the starring cast something dramatic and compelling to chew on for audiences, there isn’t much they can offer in the way of dramatic turns. “Come Out and Play” manages to feel a lot more like a clip show of the best of the original film than really taking its own turn on the story, thus in the end it’s mostly just a hollow experience.