Fortress

Remind me not to kidnap kids from a remote Australian outback village, or at least not the ones with the skills to sharpen eucalyptus branches into deadly pikes...which, according to this movie, would be all of them.

When a school teacher and a classroom full of children are kidnapped at gunpoint and driven to a remote location, they decide their only chance of survival is to fight back against their captors. The kids are quite clever and resourceful and it's surprisingly violent, although it cops out by refusing to let any of the kids come to any real harm. It's still pretty fun watching children taking to murder like ducks to water.

I wouldn't consider this fit for young children, nor effective enough to appeal to a post-pubescent viewer, but I guess it has that quaint sincerity that will earn a wayward film like this its cult following. It's definitely not writer Everett De Roche's finest hour; smarter assailants and more realistic behavior from the children (who are very small but act tougher than the teens in "Toy Soldiers") might have actually made this a respectable thriller.

This movie, above all others, scared the bejesus out of me as a kid.

I watched when i was 10 or something, and it was remarkable for my childwood. I rewatched today, and i must say, it's surprisingly good and entertaining.