Children can be cruel. Especially so when they think they won’t be caught. When a group of kids in a housing complex in suburban Norway develop uncanny powers – ranging from telekinesis to the ability to control the mind and body of another – they soon graduate from levitating bottle tops to remotely snapping limbs and impaling each other with bits of trees.
This is the second feature from Norwegian director Eskil Vogt, who as Joachim Trier’s co-writer was Oscar-nominated earlier this year for The Worst Person in the World. Tonally, this is closer to the pair’s previous collaboration, the sparky, metaphysical teen picture Thelma. But The Innocents is an altogether more chilling proposition that harnesses the terrifying malice of bored kids and blurs the line between social drama and out-and-out horror.
