Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (January 16, 2024)
Though not a major subgenre, stories that involve evil kids act as an occasional source of horror content. In this vein comes 2018’s Bad Apples.
New arrivals Ella (Brea Grant) and Robert Block (Graham Skipper) settle in to their quiet cul-de-sac neighborhood. Matters take an unusual turn on Halloween night, however.
Two teen sisters (Alycia Lourim and Heather Vaughn) use this event as a time to enact violent plans. After they brutally murder a few others, they land on the doorstep of Ella and Robert’s house as they execute more terror.
Horror tales in which apparently underpowered characters create violent havoc don’t seem unusual. For instance, the Child’s Play movies involve a diminutive doll, so even though Chucky seems as though he should be easy to stop, he commits all sorts of bloody violence.
As such, it may feel like a stretch that two teen girls could so easily kill a bunch of adults – and it probably is. But we accept all sorts of less than believable situations in horror films, so I can go with this improbable flow.
Or I could if I found a better movie. Unfortunately, Apples exists as little more than a quirky theme without any real scares.
Though it seems like it mainly derives from the “evil kid” genre, Apples shares more with another domain: home invasion flicks. Plenty of movies involve characters who need to protect themselves from a malevolent threat, and we get that concept here.
Of course, the undersized and underaged nature of the antagonists offers a spin. Still, beyond the youth of the killers, Apples fits pretty snugly into the series of flicks that force residents to defend themselves in their abodes.
We also can’t ignore the proverbial jack-o’-lantern in the room: 1978’s classic Halloween. Murderous and mysterious assailants in masks who slay on October 31? No one can make that movie and not beg for comparisons to John Carpenter’s hit and its many sequels.
All of this leads to a movie that mixes and matches genres in a broad manner. Perhaps another filmmaker could jumble these elements into something fresh, but writer/director Robert Coyne isn’t that person.
Like too many horror flicks, Apples comes across like a short stretched to feature length. Even at a mere 85 minutes, it feels padded.
This means too many scenes that deserved to land on the cutting room floor. For instance, we spend seemingly endless minutes with inane monotony that involves Ella and Robert in their new home.
I suppose Coyne figured this footage would add depth to the roles, but that doesn’t occur. We get nothing that proves particularly useful to understand the characters or the circumstances, so all this material simply slows the narrative and acts to eat minutes.
Once the horror plot engages, matters don’t improve. We remain stuck with tedium, as the tale fails to progress in a lively manner.
Instead, we end up stuck in neutral as we await the inevitable violent shenanigans. Nothing ever feels tense or involving.
It doesn’t help that Apples fails to set up Ella as an even vaguely sympathetic role. For a movie like this to work, we need to care about her fate, but instead, we kind of hope the kids will slaughter this grumpy, sour character.
Eventually Apples gives us backstory elements that might explain Ella’s dour personality. However, this feels gratuitous and still not enough to make us sympathize with her.
Grant offers a sexy presence but she fails to make Ella likable. None of the other actors do much with their parts as well.
Not that I can fault them, as they find themselves stuck in an inert, tedious attempt at horror. Perhaps skilled filmmakers could do something with this mess, but the movie we find here just turns into a dull drag.