Suffer Little Children — Suffer Little Children(DVD)
This recent region free DVD appears on the always worthy Intervision, which is the ultra-obscure & SOV sub-label of Severin Films. Over the last year, the label has uncovered some great SOV gems, such as Murderlust, Dreamstalker, and Death By Love. And Suffer Little Children is another great discovery, and I’d say it’s one of the best I’ve seen from Intervision thus far.
Made in 1983 it’s the one & only directorially credit of Alan Briggs, who had worked as a music promoter, and at one-time owned the well-known British music venue Brixton Academy. He made the film with his ex-wife Meg Shanks, who at the time was running a stage school, and the film features students & school children from the school. The film is set in a children’s home, one day a mute child appears on the homes doorstep. And fairly soon items start flying about, people die, and ultimately the little girl starts to demonically take over the homes children.
The film takes typically SOV traits like jarring editing & overload music that blocks out dialogue- amping them up to a new almost surreal level, and this adds an extra layer of unsettlement & puzzlement to the proceedings. The acting is, as one would expect very mixed. Though there is some not bad actors here, for example, the cardigan-wearing & stuffy owner of the homes owner is good, and the main mute child is quite effective too. But of course, we get some really uneven to truly bad acting from the kids, and the kitchen staff at the home, that have some unintentional amusing banter.
But really both the SOV traits & the acting are just bonuses- as there is much here to be cherished & enjoy for connoisseurs of bad films. We get a great wonky score that moves between wavering synth craft, lo-fi heavy meta chugging with tinny-yet ritual percussion, and a post-punk & grating theme song. Added to this we get amusing deep demonic talking from the mute girl, items floating on strings & people clearly pushing tables. Frenzied & bloody knife attacks on adults by children, and a rather intense strobe bound finale which features children chanting to Satan, lots of screaming, oh yes & Jesus in his thorn crown!. All to make this a completely one-off slice of video madness, even by normal SOV standards.
Extras wise we get two interviews, each around ten minutes & newly commissioned trailer. The first interview is with the films director and this see him discussing the films making, and its controversy- as at one point it was seized by Scotland Yard during the video nasty period in the UK. And the second interview is with John Martin- whose an expect of the video nasty period- his interview sees him discussing in more detail the films controversy & it’s final release back in the 80’s when it appeared in a cut form.
Suffer Little Children really is a true SOV gem- both in its almost arty haphazardness & wonderfully nonsensical editing. As well as it’s primal ‘n’ wonky soundtracking, and of course the moments of brutal gore, and what-hell moments. If you enjoy bad filmmaking, this really is a film you need to add to your collection.