Next to slashers and zombies, the killer-kid sub-genre has always been a favorite of mine, so I've been anxiously awaiting the chance to check out this latest addition to the genre. Come Out and Play is actually a remake of a little known 70's Spanish film, Who Can Kill a Child? which I liked, despite some pacing issues. Unfortunately, this remake doesn't really offer much else of what we haven't already seen in the original or in general.

The story still remains the same--following a young white couple as they search for a boat that'll lead them to a small secluded fishing island somewhere off of Mexico. After seemingly endless searching they get their hands on one and finally head to the island, but soon discover that it's a little TOO peaceful. In fact, with the exception of some unsupervised kids roaming around the town, the place is damn near vacant. The couple shrug it off as it having to do with some festival until they witness a seemingly innocent little girl cane an old man to death right before their eyes. It then becomes clear that there's definitely something off with the local children...

The remake stays true to the original, keeping pretty much all the key scenes and simply modernizing everything. This may be fine for those who haven't seen the original, but for those of us who have will likely find ourselves rather bored. This is especially the case since (like its predecessor) it's rather slow paced and doesn't kick into gear until towards the end. Going in I was hoping they'd make some sort of attempt at switching things around or adding some new content, but that sadly wasn't the case at all, which just goes to show how little creativity was needed for this seemingly pointless effort.

Despite the lack of new material and its pacing issues, I still found the film entertaining to a certain extent. The children also seemed a wee bit more menacing this time 'round, which is obviously another positive aspect to factor in. Had there been more gore and action throughout the pic I probably would've liked it more, but as it stands it's just another redundant effort in a long line of needless remakes.

Simply put, if you've seen the original film that this is based on then I'd advise skipping this, as it doesn't offer anything new AT ALL. However, if you haven't seen its predecessor and you're into killer-kid flicks and don't mind a little mystery and a slow developing pace then give this a look.