THE CHILD (1977)

[The Burgomaster]

Here's another trashy 1970s drive-in flick from Box Office International.  I bought it on a Something Weird DVD double feature with I EAT YOUR SKIN.

A young woman arrives at a rural house to take a job as a live-in housekeeper/nanny.  The "child" of the movie's title is little Rosalie.  She's an odd kid . . . sort of like the girl in THE BAD SEED . . . except she has the ability to revive corpses from a nearby cemetary.

Most of the movie is pretty boring with the simple, small-town folk sitting around, drinking tea, and talking.  Eventually, Rosalie conjures up some zombies and they chase people around and maim or kill them.  It seems like every person who gets attacked ends up with the exact same facial wounds (the gore effects crew must have used a "one-size-fits-all" latex appliance and transferred it from actor to actor).

I can't recommend this one unless you are an absolute zombie fanatic.  And even if you are, there are plenty of zombie flicks out there that are considerably better than this one.

[Ed Sigma]

I saw this one a while ago, and I've got to agree that it's not that great.  On paper, it's got a great premise, and there are some early scenes that show a lot of promise (like the one with the kitten), but it's clear that's it's a serious victim of it's own budget, the padding is very obvious, the acting is seriously awful and the zombies look really stupid, they look like (by which I mean probably were) guys covered in paper-mache.  Pity, because it's a concept which could be the potential for a mini-classic, maybe a remake is due...