(2006)
Directed by J.S. Cardone
Starring Lori Heuring, Scout Taylor-Compton, Chloë Grace Moretz, Geoffrey Lewis, Ben Cross, Chris Jamba, Martin McDougall

This film is about a small mountain town that is haunted by the victims of a mine accident back in the early 1900s. From the prologue, we learn that these victims were all children that were working in the mine and left to be buried alive in the shaft at the start of a cave-in. Of course, the mine’s owner was found innocent of any wrongdoing in the accident, and so starts the vengeance of the dead children.

Lori Heuring plays a recently widowed woman who arrives at her late husband’s ancestral home in the mountains with her two daughters. After her husband lost a long and expensive battle with an illness, they didn’t have too many options, so she decided to spend some time at this old house until she could figure things out. Of course, this house just happens to be in the little town where the mining accident happened all those years ago. It doesn’t take long before they realize that something strange is going on, with both the legends of the “zombie kids from the mountain” to seeing some strange things on their own. Such as the creepy neighbor who is marking their front door with fresh blood. Then there are the strange noises at night, and little dark figures moving about the forest, dragging pickaxes and shovels behind them.

Director by J.S. Cardone does a fantastic job creating some really cool-looking shots of the foggy enshrouded woods, with shrouded figures wandering through them. Very creepy. He sets the mood of the area right away, and really uses the surrounding location to show how scary it can be, especially when it starts to get dark. The cast, led by Heuring, all bring their characters to life, though the story is nothing new, especially when it comes to the teenage daughter, played by Scout Taylor-Compton, where we get the same-old “we’re not going to ‘live’ here, are we?” argument more than a few times. While that gets old really quick, it doesn’t last too long. Her little sister is played by Chloë Grace Moretz, and she really shows how great of an actress she was, showing a lot of talent for someone so young. Just with a look or a glance, she gives off a lot of emotion through her face.

For the supporting parts, you couldn’t have gotten two better actors, even though they are not in the film that much. Geoffrey Lewis plays the handyman that is helping get the house in working order. He’s always a treat to watch. And Ben Cross plays the strange neighbor, who not only knows the history of the area, but also knows how to try and keep it at bay at night.

But now we come to the part that stops this from being a great film, and yes there might be a spoiler or two. Originally, Tobe Hooper was attached to this film when it was called just Zombies, which explains one of the problems I have with it. According to the audio commentary by director Cardone, he wanted to do something a little more in the classic children horror stories, creating more of a dark fairy tale. The title characters in the film are obviously the children that died in the mine, coming back to haunt the location where they died, and looking for person responsible to pay for their sins, or the sins of their father, as the case may be. Sounds like a great setup for a classic type of ghost story. The only problem is that they kept the zombie part from the original story and have the little kids not just ghosts, but after they kill one of their victims, they eat them, as if they were zombies. I think it would have been much more effective if they would have stayed in the ghost story genre, but that’s just me.

Cardone started his directing career with a great little low budget flick called The Slayer (1982). Anybody wandering through the video store aisles back then probably came across this film and rented it because the creature on the box was pretty damn cool, only to find out you only get to see it for a brief minute. Still, a decent flick. He also did an entertaining flick for Charles Band called Shadowzone (199).  Wicked Little Things was the last film he directed, which is a shame because I think he definitely had a knack for creating some great looking scenes. I definitely would recommend this one because despite the issues I had with it, it still remains a creepy little flick with a good cast and a decent story.