Suffer, Little Children (1983)

"Ratty, Tatty, Homemade Satanic Kiddy BritHorror"

That about sums the whole thing up, actually. A slice of ultra-obscure British film-making gets a DVD release from Severin on the Intervision label. Is it worth a watch? I think that will depend on your tastes and, indeed, on your very definition of the word 'film'.

Desk of the Possessed!

The picture quality of SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN is 4:3 VHS, with all the drop-outs, tracking issues and occasional fits of snow the format is heir to. Older viewers will find this nostalgic, those who came of age after the video revolution will be bewildered that anyone watched movies with this kind of picture quality.

Back Garden Zombies!

The blocky, homemade pixel-generated titles tell us that what we are about to see is based on true events (aha!) that took place at '45 Kingston Road, New Malden, Surrey, England in August 1984'. We get a director credit (Alan Briggs) but that's it.

Shades of Norman J Warren?

So far, so potentially fascinating and possibly illegal snuff movie-like - sticking a bootleg of this into my old toploader would probably have had me wondering what on earth I was in for. Here's what we actually get:

A mute child arrives at a children's care home that looks more like someone's house that's been hired out for the day. She has a handwritten note that asks for her to be taken care of. Unfortunately she turns out to be 'of the devil' and starts possessing the other kids. Those who resist die horribly (within the confines of the budget). A little boy falls down the stairs and coughs up blood. A girl stabs herself to death. This film's equivalent of the popular (at the time, yes they were) beat combo Black Lace turn up to do a charity gig and all hell eventually breaks loose with nearly everyone getting killed. Then Jesus Christ himself turns up to save the day.

A very naughty girl indeed.

Shot on VHS, running a brief 76 minutes, and employing the talents of a local drama school (some of the child actors were as young as eight, apparently), SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN is one for British horror movie completists, and if like me, you are one you'll be fascinated by this. By turns professional (it's certainly more competently shot than dozens of found footage films filling the shelves at HMV) and exceedingly amateurish (Jesus Christ under a strobe light could easily do your head in), all I can say is I'm glad I watched it, but this is definitely one for the hardened obscurist.

Astounding special effects! 

Not satisfied with digging up this ultra-obscurity, Severin also give us an interview with the director, plus we get an interview with John Martin (of Giallo Pages fame and many other top quality examples of horror movie journalism) about the good old Video Nasty furore. Amazing isn't it, how it's possible to feel nostalgia now for something that was so utterly frustrating and angering back in the day. You also get a trailer.

Don't worry, Jesus will be here in a bit

Very rough around the edges (and in the middle too, actually), SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN was nevertheless made with integrity and the intention of making a serious horror film. If you love the obscure stuff, or if you're just very, very kind, it's demented enough to certainly be worth a look. 

SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN is out on DVD from Severin (even though the label says Intervision) on 
Tuesday 31st October 2017