Biologist Tom (Lewis Fiander, DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE) and his pregnant wife Evelyn (Prunella Ransome, FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD) arrive in Spain for a planned holiday on the remote island of Almanzora. Unbeknownst to them, a few bodies have washed up on the mainland and the causes of death are unnatural. The couple rent a boat and sail to the mainland, only to discover the village deserted except for the children. Assuming that the adults must be on the other side of the island for some religious ceremony, they make themselves at home in the local inn. It is only when Tom sees a little girl (Marian Salgado) thrashing a helpless old man with his own cane, that he and Evelyn realize that there is something more sinister afoot. Released in the US by American International as ISLAND OF THE DAMNED - minus the disturbing footage under the titles - and then as TRAPPED! (the latter with poster art that echoed VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED), and as DEATH IS CHILD'S PLAY, ISLAND OF DEATH (not to be confused with the Niko Mastorakis film reviewed HERE), and WOULD YOU KILL A CHILD? in the UK, WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? is the second horror film of Spanish director Narcisco Ibanez Serrador (who had previously helmed the AIP pickup THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED/LA RESIDENCIA). Whereas his first film was a period gothic chiller (laced with late sixties gore and - in its export version - nudity), WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? takes its cues from unnatural siege films like THE BIRDS and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, with children as the attackers. Serrador eschews the science fiction explanation of Juan José Plans' source novel "El Juego de los Ninos (The Children's Game)" and leaves his besieged protagonists to ponder various physical, metaphysical, psychological, and philosophical possibilities for the sudden revolt of the children (the French theatrical title was REVOLT OF THE YEAR 2000). Stephen King must have seen the film in its US cut (minus the footage underlining the theme of children as victims of wartime atrocities), and one can't help but wonder if the source story and film of CHILDREN OF THE CORN might have played better had he not offered affirmation of a supernatural cause. The opening credits stock footage of war atrocities with statistics for the total people killed (and separate ones for the children) and a camera shop clerk underlines that it is always the children who suffer the most. The titular question is asked rhetorically in the film's dialogue, and the film builds towards the cinematic transgression powerfully. Waldo de los Rios (who also scored LA RESIDENCIA) contributes a spare score dominated by a child humming a lullaby-like tune. Child actress Marian Salgado previously played the possessed tyke of Amando de Ossorio's EXORCIST cash-in THE POSSESSED/DEMON WITCH CHILD, and Spanish horror favorite Luis Ciges (HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB) shows up briefly as the island's postman.