Now available on DVD
Cast:
Pollyanna McIntosh as The Woman
Art Hindle as George
Amy Hargreaves as Amy
Ed Nelson as Cow
Ahna Tessler as Claire
Andrew Elvis Miller as David
Directed by: Andrew van den Houten
Review:
Apparently, killing children in horror films is no longer a taboo.
Well, that is if Offspring is any indication. And backed up by the accompanying Ghost House Underground film from 2009, The Children.
Because if the brutal kid deaths in The Children didn’t whet your appetite for seeing little tykes get sliced and diced, Offspring will do it.
Descendants of a lighthouse keeper that went off the reservation some years ago are roaming the West Coast of the United States. Keeping to caves and moving nomadically for years from the edge of Canada to Baja California, they attack those in the middle of nowhere killing the men and bringing the women and children back to the caves in order to feast on them, impregnate them or eat their babies.
About 11 years ago, a cop investigated the disappearance and killing of a number of families in his town. He tracked them down and along with his other officers thought they had killed them all. Not so, as they have returned and are back to their old tricks.
First, they attack and kill a family in a house in the wilderness, carving up a father, bagging a baby and chopping up the mother. The kids in this cannibalistic nomadic tribe are just as evil as the adults, killing and maiming just like their adopted parents.
Their second victims also live in a remote house near the coast. The family including a small boy and with a sister visiting with her baby, they are attacked. The strong male figure is killed right away and the two mothers are taken to the cave. Before they can get their hands on the baby, one of the mothers instructs the boy to take the baby and hideout in a tree house.
The local police discovering the first family torn to shreds, enlist the help of the old detective that first handled the case and he tracks them down to a cave on the coast â after killing one of the cannibal kids with a bullet to the chest. There he helps the two mothers escape and kill most of the other nomads. Of course, it isn’t that simple as the remaining members of the cannibals find the boy and baby, making it one hell of a night.
Offspring isn’t a complex film. In fact, it is probably as straight-forward as it gets. Group eats people. Group kidnaps people. Police try to stop group. But it is the awesome gore and brutal deaths that make it shine. If you are not opposed to seeing babies and children in danger, children getting killed in really bad ways and general mayhem, check it out, you’ll probably enjoy it.
Extras:
There are a nice host of special features on the DVD, which is always nice as it adds a little more to the viewing experience after you have watched the film.
“Progeny: The Birth of Offspring” featurette examines the making of the film mostly through interviews with the cast and crew mixed in with footage of the film. It is most interesting to see the actors that play the Offspring talk in just simplistic and perfect English considering what we have just seen in terms of their animal instincts throughout the film. We do get some special effects footage as well and how they went about with the multiple knife piercings, beheadings, blood gushing and more. We also get a bit of info about the set that is created â taking two months to build â where the final third of the film takes place.
Other special features include other Ghost House trailers, the original Offspring trailer, photo galleries, the original script and the Webisodes from the movie.
