Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (1973)

Director: Bob Clark

Starring: Alan Ormsby, Valerie Mamches, Jeff Gillen, Anya Ormsby, Paul Cronin, Jane Daly, Roy Engleman, Robert Philip, Bruce Solomon, Alecs Baird, Seth Sklarey

More info: IMDb

Tagline: You're Invited To Orville's "Coming-Out" Party...It'll Be A Scream...YOURS!!!

Plot: Actors led by Alan Ormsby go to graveyard on remote island to act out necromantic ritual. The ritual works, and soon the dead are walking about and chowing down on human flesh.

My rating: 6/10

Will I watch it again? Nah.

Directed by Bob Clark, the same cat that gave us such diverse classics as BLACK CHRISTMAS (1974), PORKY'S (1982) and A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983), CSPwDT is surprisingly minimalist. The low budget shows but it's remarkable as to how much he's able to accomplish with essentially a graveyard, a house and a group of teens. He's got a nice group of campy actors and the script is pretty good. I was digging the first half but it starts to wear thin for the next half hour, slowing the picture down to a halt, until the final 15 minutes once the zombies come out of their graves and start killing folks. That last act is a lot of fun. That 30 minute spot of lag really takes the energy out of the whole thing and that's what'll keep me from watching it again. It's too bad, too, because there are several moments of (intentional) hilarity that give this movie so much promise. Now I'm in the mood to see BLACK CHRISTMAS again. That's where Clark REALLY knocked it out of the park.