Offspring

Good for direct to DVD
Since I am a fan of Jack Ketchum's novels and this was one of my favorites I had to see it (although I have no interest in seeing his other film adaptions).

It's direct to DVD and I knew what to expect. I wasn't that disappointed, mostly because the running time is short and it has some ok production design. The location scout deserves most of the credit in this movie and it was filmed in the US (I have a thing about runaway film productions, they should be labeled as "foreign films")

This film had so much potential but is extremely lackluster. Who thought crazy, cannibal kids could be so trite? The costumes, wigs, and makeup effects look like leftovers from the bargain bin at a Halloween store a week after October 31. This alone could have saved it even from the poor acting performances (which could have been saved through editing).

I have to admit it was nice not to be bombarded with bad CGI for once.

I gave two stars for effort, the...

Hardcore Horrorheads Should See this Sh . . . Schtuff
Horror films should horrify. Ghost House's Offspring succeeds in doing so.

Not every horror film need be heavy stuff. Sometimes, a genre fan appreciates subtlety. But, sometimes, a habitual horror viewer wants something original, and he further wants that original thing to go somewhere unsafe such as The Devil's Rejects or The Exorcist does. Offspring is art that dares depart the grid. Offspring shocks its audience, and the film takes huge risks. For example, child characters both kill and die graphically on-camera in this film. A movie-watcher does not see that cinematic taboo broken often. And, Offspring offers plenty more extreme horror.

Furthermore, Offspring does something that not every genre piece does. Not every direct-to-video work does this. Offspring takes the time and care to create sympathetic characters. A viewer is much more sickened and horrified for seeing likeable characters tormented. These victims are not especially stereotypes, and most do...

A Rated Horror
If you like horror films and don't mind being grossed out, then this movie is for you. Another great work from Jack Ketchum, who Stephen King has quoted as saying "Who's the scariest guy in America? Probably Jack Ketchum." I saw the "Girl Next Door," which is another work of Mr. Ketchum's. The movie was based on true events in 1965 in the state of Indiana.
This movie, "The Offspring" is very graphic, disturbing and by no manes for the weak stomach. I have seen a lot of horror films over the years and this ranks right up there with the more disturbing films, including "The Human Centipede" sequence 1 & 2.
Overall I give the movie an A, an absolute scarey & disturbing movie [one of the top ten best horror films I have seen within the last year]

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