Although this low-budget regional film (lensed in Long Island, NY and northern New Jersey) boasts poor acting and a nonsense story, it does contain some good graphic bloodletting and a finale that goes way beyond the borders of good taste for a U.S.-made production. A father and son are on a camping trip when Dad gets his leg caught in a bear trap. Unable to free himself (and mistakenly thinking that help is on the way), the father tells his young son the story of Beowulf’s Grendel (don’t ask!) while maggots eat away at his wounded leg. Dad dies and the son goes bonkers, ripping out Dad’s heart and eating it. Flash forward 10 years to a nearby town where 13 children have come up missing. The local police are unable to solve the disappearances (it’s a miracle that they can find their own station), so they call in a writer of paranormal stories to help them find out what is going on. More children disappear (including the writer’s daughter), adults begin showing up dead and devoured and the townspeople start showing signs of developing a mob mentality. It seems the children have become cannibals and their leader is the boy (now a young adult) who was left in the woods 10 years earlier. In the finale, the townspeople locate the kids’ hideout in the forest and slaughter all of them (except for one), killing the writer in the process. It is this finale that makes the film really disturbing. Children are shown getting shot in the back, having their heads blown off, having axes planted in their bodies and pitchforks shoved through their necks, all in loving close-up. Director Mik Cribben (who also appears as the religious farmer who leads the adult revolt) spares no gore in other scenes as we view a man cut in half, a nasty throat slashing, various cannibalistic atrocities and a rape committed on the writer’s wife by the demented mountain boy. The effects range from amateurish to quite good. If you like gore, this is the film for you. If you want something more, then pass this one by. Jim Muro (STREET TRASH) handled the steadicam work. Starring Michael Robertson, Rich Hamilton, Robin Lilly and Lori Tirgrath. This film (originally known as FRIENDS OF THE GOBLINS) sat on the shelf for over 5 years before Troma Films picked it up for distribution. It would make a good double bill with Max Kalmanowicz’s THE CHILDREN (1980) if you are psycho enough to watch another bunch of killer kids get slaughtered. BEWARE: CHILDREN AT PLAY is Unrated for obvious reasons. { text from critcononline.com }