The Innocents
Four children become friends during the summer holidays, and out of sight of the adults they discover they have hidden powers. While exploring their newfound abilities in the nearby forests and playgrounds, their innocent play takes a dark turn and strange things begin to happen.
- Released: 2021-09-03
- Runtime: 117 minutes
- Genre: Drama, Horror, Thrillers
- Stars: Rakel Lenora Fløttum, Alva Brynsmo Ramstad, Sam Ashraf, Mina Yasmin Bremseth Asheim, Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Morten Svartveit, Kadra Yusuf, Lisa Tønne, Nor Erik Vaagland Torgersen, Irina Eidsvold Tøien, Marius Kolbenstvedt, Kim Atle Hansen, Birgit Nordby
- Director: Eskil Vogt
Comments
- eden-broberg - 17 May 2024
Great first half
Great sinister first half of the film, but the last half got cheesy and lost momentum for me. The beginning of the film does a nice job tackling how silently cruel kids can be when left to their own curiosities.
However, it's remarkably unrealistic that a stay-at-home-mom would let her two children play outside all day (sometimes from morning until night) without any supervision. The daughter 'in charge' is maybe 7 or 8 years old - and is tasked with watching her older disabled sister.
The boy in the film isn't likable enough to have much pull, but isn't serious enough to instill any fear.
First half is like an 8/10, last half is like a 4/10. Very predictable ending. - jtindahouse - 2 December 2023
Quite a bleak and grim horror experience (but not in the good way)
Jeez, I struggle with animal cruelty in films. Like I understand that it's a truly terrific way to show how despicable a character is, but surely there are other ways? Hurt humans all you need to, but leave the animals alone.
I've had this film on my radar for quite a while now. I really enjoy European horror usually. They do it in a terrific way and usually nothing is off the cards. This wasn't quite the film I hoped it would be however.
I think even the most dark and grim horror should be still be fun - even if it's in a twisted way. For example, if I'm watching a film like 'Hostel' or 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' I know it is absolutely grim what I'm seeing on the screen, but I'm having the time of my life watching it. With 'The Innocents' it was just grim and there was no fun behind it. This is actually quite a cruel natured film for a lot of the run time I found.
The film does deserve a lot of credit for how well it was made though. The child actors were terrific. Some really dark and great performances that enhanced the film in a major way. Also the way the child characters were written was great. It ensured that they weren't annoying and it was actually interesting to watch them react to things in their own unique ways. 6/10. - keeleybee18 - 7 September 2023
Animal Abuse Completely Ruined It
This film has the potential to be so original and interesting had they left out the animal abuse and torture at the beginning. Wholly unnecessary, hideously disturbing, and completely ruined the entire film for me. I would not recommend this film to anyone because of it. God forbid some child watches this film and tries to emulate the boy... It was very hard to watch at times and not in a good way that normally draws me to a scary movie. It's just disturbing from the beginning...and the plot, and frankly, the entire film itself isn't good enough to even attempt to justify the grotesque beginning. If you have even the slightest issue with animals and innocent people being treated in an evil manor, don't watch this film. It's really not worth it. - alven-1 - 6 November 2022
Disgusting!
They kill a poor cat by dropping it 10 floors and then breaking its neck by stomping it!
Sadistic children! There are no meaning to waste a single minute with this terrible film.
No wonder people get heartless and lack empathy when movies like these are presented on large streaming networks. This should be used as a warning example how to not make a movie.
Practically it's a movie about nothing. A boy is assumed to have psychokinetic abilities, but he also obviously lacks any kind of empathy, killing a cat for no reason. The sick little girl puts shattered glass inside her autistic sister's shoes. - chrismwolfe - 22 September 2022
Original supernatural thriller/drama
This was a really interesting and original experience overall. Now, I would not classify this as horror whatsoever, but a supernatural thriller/drama? Yes.
Such an interesting glimpse back into what it was like to be a kid, when right/wrong and good/evil wasn't always black and white and you were still trying to figure it out. And then to add the supernatural element into it at such a high quality caliber... really cool film.
I will say that while the tension building was effective, I did feel that it dragged a bit and would have been more successful if the run time was a bit shorter. I also feel like the plot could have been beefed up a bit, but maybe that wouldn't be a problem if the runtime was shave down. However, those are probably my only complaints.
Super original, super well done, super well acted all around. Would recommend. - BandSAboutMovies - 27 August 2022
Frightening children
At a large Norwegian housing complex, a group of children begins to reveal their dark and mysterious powers when the adults aren't looking. By the time anyone knows what's happening, it just may be too late to save anyone.
Ben (Sam Ashraf) is bullied and ignored by his single mother, setting him down the path of being a serial killer as he's already killing cats (seriously, if you love animals, you may want to avoid this).
Yet when he's around Ida (Rakel Lenora Flottum), her autistic sister Anna (Alva Brynsmo Ramstad) and their neighbor and vitiligo sufferer Aisha (Mina Yasmin Bremseth Asheim), his already growing superpowers seem to increase. And they find themselves growing in power as well, showing signs of mind control, healing and telekinesis.
Director and writer Eskil Vogt is probably best known in the U. S. for the movie that he wrote, The Worst Person In the World. Here, the insular world of children -- which can often be as cruel as it can be innocent -- opens itself up to get revenge on the wrongs its been dealt on adults with no true concern for the consequences, at least in Ben's case.
As a child, I always thought having superpowers would solve the bullying issues that I dealt with every day. Now, after watching the Innocents, I feel pretty happy that I just stayed a normal person.
