Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (1972)

50% of critics liked it
(10 reviews)
40% of users liked it
(6,288 ratings)

In Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things, an above average slasher/horror film, a group of amateurs decide to experiment with witchcraft with deadly results. This film has a small cult following, due to some extent to the fact that one of the lead characters is played by writer and makeup effects… More In Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things, an above average slasher/horror film, a group of amateurs decide to experiment with witchcraft with deadly results. This film has a small cult following, due to some extent to the fact that one of the lead characters is played by writer and makeup effects artist Alan Ormsby. Ormsby gives one of the three or four most obnoxious screen performances in history as Alan, the leader of a troupe of actors who try out a voodoo ritual on a corpse only to find out that it has worked on all the corpses in the graveyard. The acting is terrible and the special effects are obvious and cheap, but the film somehow manages to overcome all of this and be quite entertaining, but only for those with strong stomachs. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG, 1 hr. 25 min.
Directed By: Bob Clark (III), Bob Clark
Genres: Drama, Horror, Mystery & Suspense, Comedy

On DVD: Jun 8, 1999
Studio: VCI

Critic Reviews

Ian Berriman, SFX Magazine
Like watching a George Romero rip-off, directed by Ed Wood, with a script scribbled by Joe Orton while he was ripped to the tits on poppers.
Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion
Clark accordingly avails himself of the best abysmal wisecracks, offhand surrealism, and decomposing mise-en-scène available
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
On a technical level, at least, it's great fun.
Jeremiah Kipp, Slant Magazine
Clever title, insufferable movie!
Jeremiah Kipp, Slant Magazine
Clark's first film is memorable only for its catchy title.
Clint Morris, Moviehole
One of the best horror movies of the 70's!
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Truly weird, sometimes effective horror cheapie.
Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com
Pretty bad, but not even close to Bob Clark's worst. This guy directed both "Baby Geniuses," don't forget.
John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis
...connoisseurs of camp will love it. Especially that title. (35th Anniversary Exhumed Edition)
John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis
On any absolute scale of movie ratings, it should score pretty low. However, there is no accounting for the amount of fun one can have with it.

Read all 10 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

vieras e

**+ Better than what the first five minutes would lead you to believe, if you can get past the annoyingness of some of the characters.
Tim S

A low budget campfest that actually manages to give me the creeps.
Wahida K

I like this kind of Movies, the Idea of the Movie was nice. Trouble is when you just think it has began to turn creepy, you experience a disaster. lol
Ken S

More interesting than entertaining, this Bob Clark film is like a mix of Evil Dead (minus the style) and Diary of the Dead. The acting is okay and the story is very uneven. It's hard to rate the cinematography because the DVD print currently in release is terrible.
Ed Fucking H

Surprisingly a really, really entertaining satanic/witchcraft/zombie/horror/comedy. I usually don't like humour with my horror but I do make exceptions when the results are this fun. Recommended for fans of Evil Dead or Return of the Living Dead fer sure.
Wu C

Slow paced and cringe worthy performances until the third act. You can see it's influence on classic films like 'Evil Dead' though. A must see cult classic for zombie movie buffs.
Patrick D

The opening scene here is great, and a great jump right off the bat. This is a really interesting film which is a zombie flick that is all about the disturbing build up and the fucked up leader of a theatre group played by the writer of the film. It's a really great curiosity and… More
The opening scene here is great, and a great jump right off the bat. This is a really interesting film which is a zombie flick that is all about the disturbing build up and the fucked up leader of a theatre group played by the writer of the film. It's a really great curiosity and entertainment up to the last 20mins but then is turns into a full scale zombie attack which really kicks ass. I would suggest this to horror fans, you can see alot of supposed influences on greater works such as Evil Dead.