PLOT: Ben and Margaret are off on a weekend trip with their friends Ellie and Thomas and their two kids. It is when the kids disappear and reappear that Ben realizes something is very wrong with them.
Kids. They are cute when they are young. Naughty when they become toddlers. Throw tantrums when they get older. And right before they turn teenagers, they become moody and throw shade.
But they can also be loving, sweet, and playful.
In the case of horror movies, though, the kids are always creepy.
THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE CHILDREN Plot
Ben and Margaret are having a fun time at their weekend get-together with friend couple Ellie, and Thomas.
When we first see the four, Ben is asking Margaret if she needs another drink and gets it for her. Inspired by their lovey-dovey moment, Ellie asks Thomas to get her a drink, too. He briskly tells her where to find the drinks.
Looks are exchanged. Margaret's look is more about how her relationship is better than hers.
Ellie frowns, clearly embarrassed by her husband's almost indifferent attitude towards her. Thomas wants to make sure his kids Spencer and Lucy are behaving.
The couple leaves with their children and heads to their cabin. Ben and Margaret rejoice in the fact that their relationship is still full of passion.
The next morning, Ben is super excited about the hike. He even uses a machete to make their way through the plants.
They end up at the ruins of some place, and all of them, except for Ellie, think it is a fantastic idea to explore it. The kids are more than enthusiastic and call the place cool.
The kids find a dilapidated building cool... okay...
Spencer and Lucy decide to go off on their own in spite of Ellie and Thomas' superb disciplinary actions.
The kids are nowhere to be seen. Eventually, they are found staring down into a pit.
The four adults manage to get to them as the kids point at something down. They are made to turn away, but their noses bleed. For some reason, the two are mesmerized by it.
The hike over, the two families sit down back at the cabin and gossip. Ellie laments at the lack of spark in her marriage. Margaret tells her to go reignite that passion. It's okay. She will take the kids.
The kids show no emotion when they are told they must stay with family friends.
Ben shows Spencer how to play with the juggling sticks, and Spencer is awful at it.
The kids play cards with Margaret and insist they go back to the ruins. Margaret says no way, and Spencer hisses. Lucy gives him a look and tells him to behave.
The kids go off to bed while Margaret and Ben talk about how they are better off not having kids. Margaret talks to Ben about how just because she didn't want kids, she feels her husband is missing out on fatherhood, considering how good is with kids. He tells her he respects her decision.
Besides, it is one thing to play with kids and another to take their responsibility.
How responsible is the couple? They find out the next morning. For now, they happily have their own intimate moment. Why should Ellie and Thomas have all the fun.
The next morning, Ben is busy making breakfast while Margaret drags her feet, still hungover. She asks about the kids and Ben shrugs. They are probably sleeping, he suggests.
They are not.
The super responsible couple had no idea when the kids upped and left the house. They freak out, and Ben has a hunch the kids are back at the ruins.
Margaret keeps talking to empty rooms about pancakes. Why start a conversation without even making sure the person is present?
Ben heads to the ruins, and of course, the kids are standing at the edge. Before he can tackle them, they jump.
Ben's expressions convey that the kids are dead. He heads out and receives a call from Margaret, who is sure her friendship with Ellie and Thomas is in danger. Luckily, she sees the kids running towards their parents.
Ben is considering how to deliver the sad news only to see the kids too. He is bewildered.
Margaret makes up some lame excuse as to why the kids are here and thinks she has made a lucky escape.
At their cabin, Ben tells her that he saw the kids die and isn't sure the kids out there are really real.
Margaret thinks he's having a mental breakdown, considering he has a history of it. Ben isn't sure if he's having hallucinations or what. He considers taking his pills.
Outside, the kids are giving him evil looks because they know he's onto them.
Spencer is suddenly excellent at juggling devil sticks. Lucy keeps on with the evil grin.
They pretend to spike Thomas' drink with Ben's pills. He throws the glass away only for Thomas to claim Ben is a wacko. The kids play innocent and Ben can see the distrust in his friend's eyes.
He grabs Spencer's arm and tries to get him to tell the truth. The boy plays wide-eyed innocent leading to Thomas become overprotective.
He tells Ben off and that's when everyone's friendship goes to hell. Ben let's it slip that they had no idea where the kids were. Ellie and Thomas watch their friends with distrust. Margaret and Ellie have a go at each other too and reveal secrets.
The kids give evil grins. That is exactly what they wanted.
The friends head to their respective cabins. Ben is in his cabin when the kids come to instigate him.
In the process, Ben accidentally knocks Spencer out with a shovel. Lucy laughs as she watches Spencer struggle to breathe. Ben panics and tries to perform CPR on him but it is too late. The second Margaret comes, Lucy puts on an innocent face. Ellie and Thomas pop in as well, and when they see Spencer lying on the floor, they all go berserk.
Ellie pretty much pushes Ben out of the cabin. Margaret doesn't come to support him and he has to loiter about outside before she comes outside later after throwing up.
He asks her to trust him but she tells him that the kids may be brats but not evil. She reminds him he has mental problems. He asks for a chance and she's like, okay whatever. But what happens if he's wrong?
They head to the pit and of course the mangled bodies aren't there. Margaret goes away while Ben sits by the edge and see the bottom of the pit glow.
Turns out the thing at the pit isn't partial only to kids. It doesn't mind adults who like to visit ruins.
THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE CHILDREN Ending Explained with Spoilers
Night has arrived and when Margaret comes out, she finds Lucy waiting for her and behaving strangely. Thomas comes and goes with Lucy into the woods.
Meanwhile, Spencer is on the couch and Ellie is beside him and weeping. He opens his eyes and we know he's up to no good.
Margaret enters the cabin but finds no one answering her calls. She goes into the bedroom and sees blood. Under the bed, Ellie is struggling to stay alive as we see blood everywhere.
Spencer is behaving abnormally and Margaret is shocked to see him alive. She looks out and sees Lucy with a weird shadow. It looks like she has collapsed wings and long, insect-like arms. When we see her though, she's still in her red-hoodie.
There's some running around and hide and seek moments. The police arrive but it's only one woman and she is easily killed.
Eventually, Margaret gets to her car but before she can open it, she sees Lucy and hides under her car. Even though Lucy is like twenty or thirty feet away from her.
She tries to get into her car when Lucy walks away but sees Ben. She tries to get him to come with her and barely mumbles an apology for not believing in him. He has a greenish glow in his eyes now and behaving weirdly.
Before Margaret can do anything else she is knocked out and dragged into the woods by the kids.
The victims are thrown into the pit one by one.
Right before it is Margaret's turn, she decides that instead of running for the exit, she wants to try pushing the kids into the pit. She succeeds.
Margaret runs out but Ben is there being his weird self. Thomas lunges at him just in time and helps Margaret get into the car. She drives away rather than helping Thomas. Thanks for the help, Thomas. Byeee!
On the way, she sees Ben holding Spencer and Lucy's hand. His alternate self likes kids now. Margaret is still not interested and shows it by running them all down.
There's something wrong with the children. And Ben.
The movie ends.
The movie had a couple of plot holes which are hard to ignore. Also, the shift of main characters may not necessarily have worked in its favor.
The story seemed to be told from Ben's POV before it turned into Margaret's story.
And Margaret was one of the weakest characters in the movie. She didn't have a character arc wasn't really an arc. Her character shows no progress. She didn't want kids was the only thing we ever get to find out.
Ben, on the other hand, had a wife who didn't want kids, friends who thought he was a murderer, his own mental health.
It seemed that because of his weakness he was preyed upon by whatever was in the pit.
For some reason, the green glowing thing didn't influence everyone the first time they all came to see it.
Wouldn't it have been fun if everyone had turned?
There's something wrong with everyone who visits the green glowing thing in the pit.
Yes, the title would have been longer.
Scare Scale: 3/5
Watch There's Something Wrong With The Children on Prime Video
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