There’s Something Wrong With The Children (reviewed by Lisa Marie Bowman)

The title is correct.  There is indeed something very wrong with the children in this 2023 film.

Lucy (Briella Guiza) and Spencer (David Mattle) go on a camping trip with their parents, Ellie (Amanda Crew) and Thomas (Carlos Santos).  Also accompanying the group are Margaret (Alisha Wainright) and Ben (Zach Gilford).  Margaret and Ben do not have children, which is something that they’ll probably be thankful for by the time the film ends.

When the group comes across a cave and a well that emits a green glow, Lucy and Spencer grow obsessed with spending time in the cavern.  When Lucy and Spencer apparently sneak off to explore the cave on their own, Ben goes off to find them.  Reaching the cave, Ben sees the children jumping into the well.  Shaken, Ben runs back to camp where everyone tells him that Lucy and Spencer have been at camp all day.

Ben is convinced that there is something wrong the children but, because Ben has mental problems and is heavily medicated, everyone assumes that he’s just seeing things.  Really, everyone should have listened to Ben because it turns out that Ben was not just seeing things.  And, of course, there really is something very wrong with the children….

This film …. eh.  This is one of those Blumhouse films where the whole thing just feels half-baked.  The premise is intriguing but the execution is a bit on the dull side and the adults really aren’t interesting enough for me to care about what their children are doing to them.  As played by Zach Gilford, Ben is at least interesting but the film sidelines his character in the most predictable way possible.  This was definitely a missed opportunity.  If you want to see a good creepy children film, check out a 1980 film called The Children.  Or maybe a 2008 film called The Children.

As for Lucy and Spencer, maybe the children are just brats.