Violence doesn’t necessarily solve problems in movies, but it can make things awfully interesting.  Despite this, “Come Out And Play” is a bit of a bore.

“Come Out and Play,” currently streaming on Netflix, is a Spanish horror film directed by Makinov, about children doing what children do, which is to slaughter any adult that comes near them.

Snark aside, having spend a large part of my life working with them, I have encountered some really badly behaved kids, though their antics tended to stop at murder.  That being said, “Come Out And Play” is unusual in that it’s not only not terribly scary, but oddly uninvolving, which considering the subject matter, is strange.

And I think I know why:  When there are scenes with the children – rampaging about, the little scamps – they’re often oddly uneffecting, which is odd in and of itself.  The film is well-acted, by the adults, at any rate, though the children don’t appear to be actors, and it shows.  There are moments during the violence that they’re just smiling, having a good ‘ole time, which doesn’t quite work if maniacal is what you’re aiming for, that is.

Also, the children do some heinous things, and the film provides no clear explanation why.  When you couple that with the fun that they seem to be having, there’s a meaninglessness, a pointlessness to everything that follows.

And that’s the worse thing.  I don’t have to understand, or even like, why characters act in one way or another, but their actions cannot seem capricious or random.

Which is why, despite some excellent acting by Ebon Moss-Bachrach, after a point I just didn’t care.

Unfortunately, that happened way before the remarkably predictable ending.