Like Kathy Bates in Misery and Piper Laurie in Carrie, Children of Sin finds a fun villainess in the form of a mature lady. She could easily be taken out with one move, but what fun would that be? Better to let her wreak havoc, terror, and death upon victims who could easily kick her ass.
The first 15 minutes had me feeling cynical and already disappointed; the actors seemed not quite pro-level, and the dialog wasn’t clicking, but I’m glad I stuck with it, because it gets better.
It starts when the kooky Mom of a teenage brother and sister marries a creepy religious zealot who doesn’t practice what he preaches (do they ever?) and releases fury on the son who is gay and the daughter who is pregnant. They’re obviously good kids, but in their parents’ eyes (and God’s, the creepy parents say), they can only be redeemed for their mortal sins in one way:
They Must Spend 3 Days at Abraham House
Checked in to this house, they are introduced to the woman in charge: Mary Esther (Jo-Ann Robinson). The house turns out to have several other young “sinners” who must spend time there. It amounts to a kind of crude and cruel conversion therapy for gays and a penal place for pregnant girls (the other pregnant girl became that way by being gang raped, but, never mind – it is she who has sinned in this crazy religious house.
The whole atmosphere reminds me of a V.C. Andrews paperback novel, and that’s not a bad thing.
Without giving any spoilers, let’s just say that the whole “3 days” thing turns out to be a standard lie for those interned here. And the punishments for any in-house infractions gets scarier, bloodier, and more lethal as time goes on.
While not in the same league as the aforementioned kooky female baddies conjured up by Stephen King, Jo-Ann Robinson, nevertheless, has fun with butcher knives and scenery destruction. She’s pretty scary for an older dame.
The film is meant to be scary fun, and it is, but there’s also some relevant messaging going on here from Director/Writer Christopher Wesley Moore. Have there ever been more evil atrocities than those perpetrated in the name of religion and righteousness?
Children of Sin is currently available on Amazon Prime. Graphic gore, no nudity, some profanity, but not much.
