Interview: Makinov, Director of 'Come Out and Play'


By: Heather Seebach

I recently got the opportunity to pose some questions to the masked, anonymous filmmaker known simply as Makinov. He is the director behind the forthcoming release, Come Out and Play, which is based on the same novel as the 1976 horror classic, Who Can Kill A Child? Both films are about a couple visiting a remote island populated entirely by murderous children.

The interview responses were brief, but Makinov had some interesting things to say for all the horror fans who assume and accuse this movie of being a shot-for-shot remake. 

Q: Do you consider Come Out and Play to be a new adaptation of the‪ Juan José Plans‬ novel, or a direct remake of Who Can Kill a Child?‬
 
Makinov: I never intended to remake a film I didn’t know existed. I’m not a big horror follower. My film is based on the book Plans wrote, which is the only material I knew. And it talks about society today.

Before I knew Makinov did not see the original film, I inquired why he chose to omit the original prologue that depicted war crimes against children. I wondered if it was simply to distance his film from the 1976 movie, or perhaps there was a deeper implication that this youthful evil is not some kind of karmatic punishment. But alas, the point is moot as Makinov never even knew the other adaptation existed apparently.
 
Makinov, in his TIFF manifesto video
Q: In your video manifesto from the Toronto International Film Festival, you spoke of problems with the youth of today, specifically their preoccupation with technology. Was this related to why you chose to tell this story about cold, violent children?
 

Makinov: No. This in my film can be seen very much literally. There is no technology in the island. Just radios. No cellphone, no working TV’s, no internet.
 
Q: Do you think this story will have less impact on audiences today because we are so immune to violence, or more impact because of all the young people committing atrocities today (e.g. school shootings; gang violence)?
 
Makinov: Audiences today are used to the worn out images of violence that the media feeds them everyday. But true violent ideas, are the more rational ones like not having to carry a passport to cross man made borders or living without money, these become more radical everyday. I think we’re going to become a very homogenized society, we will become average and the violence used to achieve that battle is something that interests me very much.

Come Out and Play opens in select theaters on March 22nd and is currently available on iTunes and VOD. 

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