The Children (1980) - Repost

Repost with updated, working movie + trailer links. 

I'm dating myself here, but once upon a time before cable television there were pay tv channels that broadcast movies, specials and "adult" fare over uhf signals. In the metro Chicago area, one such service was named ONTV. You had to have a decoder box to sort out the signal, but that never stopped my pals and I from attempting to catch a glimpse of the nudity and forbidden films on display with out the decoder. I was lucky enough to have a buddy whose parents subscribed to ONTV and were cool with him and his pals watching the R-rated flicks, usually with them watching as well. Several of the movies I first caught in this pre-cable set up have always brought back memories of that channel and time with 1980's low budget horror flick The Children being one such film.

The plot concerns a bus load of little ones who pass through a cloud of toxic gas released from the neighborhood nuclear plant. This turns them into black-finger nailed killers driven to decimate the adult population with killer hugs. You might recognize actor Martin Shakar from his earlier role as the conflicted priest/older brother of John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.

trailers

the feature