Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The Innocents’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for the motion picture, ‘The Innocents’.
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One particular belief that everyone in modern society shares in, is that children are innocent and pure, and it makes sense as to why we all hold to that. For children haven’t been through it like the rest of us, and they haven’t seen the darkness of the world or had their hearts broken by people they thought they could trust. They only see the world as it appears to them, with a sense of hope and purity that we recall sharing in when we were young. Plus, they also view the world and its complexity with a simplicity adults lack and of course… they do cute and wondrous things that melt our hearts and remind us of the wonder of who we are and what we can be. 
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If anything, how we view children is essential to our collective mental health. Since it provides us with hope for tomorrow. For if those same innocents are taught correctly and given every chance to grow, they can change the world and make it better than the one we leave behind and well… while that is a wonderful view of the next generation, make no mistake about it… it is a view that is processed through rose-colored glasses. Because what we often forget, is that children at times, concern us. For their behavior can also be malicious and cruel. Something that is often written off as nothing more than a lack of understanding, but it does leave one to wonder if kids are as perfect as we like to think them to be and that thought is top of mind today, simply because there is a brand-new horror film on Shudder entitled, The Innocents, that ponders upon that question and so much more.

A feat that this film accomplishes, by way of a unique introduction. For we quickly meet Ida in this film, a young girl who is moving into a new apartment complex with her mother and autistic sister Anna. A move Ida isn’t excited for in the slightest since it means starting over. But soon she meets Ben and Aisha and the four quickly become fast friends, despite the fact that Ben has some violent tendencies and… special powers. For it turns out that Ben has tapped into something special, the power to control others and he’s not alone in having unique abilities, since the union of these four friends has enabled powers for everyone else and the only question that remains now… is whether or not these powers will be used for good, or to fulfill the wants and needs of a young mind that doesn’t know any better.

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Which is a plot that seems grounded more in science fiction than horror but make no mistake about it… there’s evil and darkness to be found in this discovery. In fact, what Ben does with his powers is indeed the stuff of nightmares since he influences so many to commit to terrible actions in the name of what he believes to be justice. A choice that leads to the central explorations of this film since Ben’s darkness and desire to cause harm, more or less reminds us that children are indeed capable of cruelty when they tap into their raw emotions. Which in turn, makes this film quite bleak and hopeless in nature since we are robbed of seeing anything magical from this important aspect of our world, but this is a storytelling decision that is genius in nature. Since it asks us to look beyond the general concept of whether or not children are indeed pure.
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For in essence, this movie basically challenges the notion that we are born inherently good, since we are clearly capable of ugly acts in our youth, and of course, this is a story that also showcases the survival of the fittest mentality that comes with youth and how kids really treat one another. Which only adds to the darkness since it reminds us of those very moments from our own youth, the ones we try and bury in the name of holding to the concept of a pure and innocent childhood in our minds. But rather than just showcase a darkness to our world and question if there is hope for any and all of us if we are capable of such acts at a young age, there is a hopeful point to this particularly twisted exploration of a childhood dream to garner incredible powers. In that… this is more about how much we rely upon the concept of innocence to absolve ourselves of really getting our hands dirty in raising children.

Because so many of the moments here, are the kind of things we simply write off as part of the experience or that kids will be kids. But being active parents, the kind that don’t just let the kids play without mind or leave them to their own devices… can perhaps help us to achieve the innocence and purity we want kids to have. Because this movie reminds us, they do indeed see the world as it is early on, and our desire to just let that be rather than work through what they’ve seen with them, does children a real disservice. Where they must make assumptions and find understanding of concepts that are indeed foreign to them. Which makes this a cautionary tale for parents and a supremely disturbing experience for viewers. Since it holds nothing back in its presentation and bravely crosses a lot of lines and the good news is, you can see this brilliant and bold horror film right now. For The Innocents is streaming on Shudder.  

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