The Children (1980)

 We are back to the Grindhouse DVD set for a film I wasn't expecting much from but was kind of impressed with. In 'The Children' a school bus passes through a toxic cloud accidentally released from a nearby power facility. The result is that the children on board become zombies whose hands burn and disfigure, since most people wouldn't refuse the hug of a lost child they do alot of damage.

So the basic premise is a different enough rif on the zombie cliche to be interesting, but the film really successeds, despite its small budget, in its sense of place and characters. Nice regional flavor here, small town New England but most of the houses seem rather upscale, commuter community to NYC or Hartford perhaps. There is some local color in the form of the general store owner and some middle aged twins who are ultimately deputized. I liked the sheriff, he is rather deferential to the more high income residents, part of his job is keeping them happy and this complicates the investigation for him some. A lot of the films on this DVD set can be kind of hard to sit through, but this one wasn't which was a nice surprise. **1/2