Every week, Kristopher Pollard from Milwaukee Film and Radio Milwaukee’s Dori Zori talk about movies — because that’s what you do when you’re Cinebuds.
“Creepy kids” is practically a movie genre unto itself, especially if you broaden the scope and rightfully include films like Baby Geniuses and characters like Sid from Toy Story. Generally, though, these spooky little squirts are a well-deserved subset of horror that’s ripe for conversation — including the one in this episode of Cinebuds.
The easy thing to do would be to just jump into examples and rattle off a list, but that isn’t their style. Our film-loving duo starts by digging down to the foundation and determining what qualifies as a “creepy kid” movie. What age is prime “creepy kid” territory? What are the tropes that connect these films? How did Martin Short find his way into the subgenre?
The reason Kpolly and Dori decided to leap into this eerie chasm is Milwaukee Film’s Creepy Kids Series currently unspooling at the Oriental Theatre. The selections started earlier this month with classic examples like the twins from The Shining (“Come play with us, Danny”), Carol Anne from Poltergeist (“They’re heeeeeeere”) and the whole freaking Village of the Damned. But there are plenty more unsettling youngsters to be found across cinematic history, which means you have a bunch of upcoming opportunities to watch them at the East Side movie palace.
The remaining schedule is below in case you want to relive some cinematic trauma from your past (Ringu is my personal nightmare) or missed them on the big screen during their heyday. Check it out while you listen to this episode of the pod, and get some happy thoughts ready so these mini-monsters don’t worm their way into your brain.
Milwaukee Film Creepy Kids Series
- Ringu: Aug. 15 at 6:30 p.m., Aug. 16 at 9 p.m.
- Let the Right One In: Aug. 15 at 9 p.m., Aug. 17 at 6:30 p.m.
- Clifford: Aug. 16 at 6:30 p.m., Aug. 17 at 9 p.m.
- The Devil’s Backbone: Aug. 22 at 9 p.m., Aug. 23 at 9 p.m.
- M3gan: Aug 23 at 6:30 p.m., Aug. 24 at 9 p.m.
- Pet Sematary: Aug. 29 at 9 p.m., Aug. 30 at 9 p.m.
