Come Out and Play is a vicious and methodical new horror film by a mysterious new film director who only goes by the name of Makinov. This film is an update of Who Can Kill a Child?, the 1976 film that some horror aficionados call one of the best Spanish horror thrillers ever made. While the film isn’t a home run, there is a lot to admire here.

The film starts with a couple, played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Vinessa Shaw, who are getting in one last vacation in Mexico before they welcome their first child. While speaking to a local, Francis finds out about a small island that is nearby that is not well traveled among tourists. He runs back to the hotel where his sick (and very pregnant) wife to tell her what he has discovered.

The film spends little time getting the couple to the island. Once there they find out that things are not what they seem. At first the couple seems to be alone. Come Out and Play features plenty of great eerie shots of Francis and Beth walking around in the desolate village. Soon they find out that they are not alone and will end up having to fight for their lives.

The island turns out to be populated with kids that are killing off all the adults. Come Out and Play then turns into a savage tale of survival. While the film doesn’t really explain why the kids are obsessed with killing all of the adults, one scene seems to point to some kind of curse that hangs over the kids.

What Come Out and Play excels at is its setting and mood which ends up being the best part about the film. Makinov nails the mood with a fantastic sound design that is mixed with a great atmospheric score that would leave John Carpenter and a host of other synth led horror maestros from the 70’s more than pleased.

With these two powerful aesthetics underlining Makinov’s overall plot, Come Out and Play just about succeeds with flying colors. There are, however, some issues the film has that almost undercut everything the film works towards. For one, the idea of two grown adults being afraid of a pack of kids seemed a little silly. Second off, some of the plot twists that happen near the end also came off as humorous.

While at first these issues were quite bothersome to me, I let the film digest for a while. It occurred to me that the film comes off as a nice little love letter written to the violent, penetrating horror films of the 1970’s and couldn’t help but think that they were meant to be a little cheesy. While forgiveness is not on the table for some of these setbacks, I can’t completely disregard what does work with the film. And to me, everything that works easily outweighs everything that doesn’t.

Back in 2005 the talented Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar made a film called Bad Education, which contains a film within a film and a story within a story based on the characters past without knowing much about their present. Yes, it is as complex as it sounds but the veteran director handles it with precision care. Like most of his other films, you will get the most out of Bad Education with each subsequent viewing of it.

One day in 1980 a successful Madrid-based filmmaker named Enrique Goded (Fele Martínez) gets a visit from a former grade school classmate named Ignacio (Gael García Bernal). The two have not seen each other in 16 years but it proves to be impeccable timing. Enrique has ran into a creative wall and is desperate for story ideas. It just so happens that Ignacio is an actor (who now prefers to go by his stage name Ángel) and brought with him a script of a story named “The Visit”.

We visually get to see what Enrique is reading of “The Visit”, which are flashbacks to their school days that include Ignacio getting sexually abused by Father Manalo (Daniel Giménez Cacho). It also recounts adolescent first love between Enrique and Ignacio. It turns out that the abuse that Ignacio received was directly tied to trying to get Enrique out of trouble.

As the story unfolds many storylines and ideas overlap each other thus making it fairly confusing in the beginning. You may think you have it figured out near the start but the characters have more depth that you may think. This is done intentionally but by the end of the film Almodóvar clears up much of the mystery.

One thing that I found particularly interesting is that when the script was being read, the aspect of the film would change. So it was as if we were watching the script of the film that was being read by Enrique. Trying to decipher what is the truth and what is made up is part of what makes Bad Education such a fun watch. But it also makes it hard to review as to not give away spoilers. Some characters are hustling other characters but it is likely not who you think it is.

It is films like Bad Education that give Pedro Almodóvar such deserving high praise. His ability for storytelling puts him in the company of Hithcock, Spielberg, Scorsese and Kubrick. During his film he shows slowly reveals pieces of a puzzle that only come together at the end and when they do they are remarkable.

It would be very difficult to write a review of Bad Education without discussing the exquisite performance that Gael García Bernal gives. Without giving too much away, Almodóvar pushes Bernal to the acting limit by playing several roles. Often he is scantily clad but there is one role which includes him dressing up in drag. If for some reason you did not appreciate Bernal before, this film should change your mind.

Because I first discovered Almodóvar from my favorite film of 2011, The Skin I Live In, I am in the unique position of watching his films in reverse sequence. So for me, I can see how each one of his later works has been influenced from Bad Education. Just like in Volver (and all of the films I have seen of his) his color palette consists of vivid color schemes. Broken Embraces was similar to this film in the fact that there is a film within a film. And finally The Skin I Live In contained a perverse natured erotic storyline which Bad Education certainly had some of.