An unnerving chiller about religious obsession
If you’re ever going to adopt a child, be wary of taking in a youngster by the name of Damian Thorne, Carrie White, Isaac Croner, or Esther Coleman. Why? Well, you may be in for a very tough time if they are anything like their namesakes in the horror movies that we are alluding to – The Omen, Carrie, Children Of The Corn, and Orphan, just in case you’re wondering!
You might also want to think twice before adopting blonde twins by the names of Tin and Tina. This is something the hopeful parents of this latest movie should have done before taking them home after meeting them at the orphanage. It’s hard to play a game of happy families when the kids in your household murder your dog in the name of God and walk around with forks on their knees as penance for their sins, but this is what the unusual-looking moppets do in this Spanish chiller.
As the movie begins, we are introduced to Lola and Adolfo, a couple who are desperate to have children but who are unable to for medical reasons. After experiencing a miscarriage, the two are understandably distraught but their chances of having a family are suddenly increased when they hear about a local monastery that is home to orphaned children.
Initially, the two of them want to bring home a baby but when Lola starts to feel sorry for Tin and Tina who are standing in the convent looking sorrowful, they decide to adopt them instead. Bad move! The children have been brought up with strict nuns and fundamentalist Christian teaching, so are prone to taking everything they have read in the Bible literally. This wouldn’t be so bad if they kept their beliefs to themselves but their faith spills over into the household in increasingly dangerous ways when they start to involve their new parents in their religious delusions.
On the surface, this is yet another horror movie about creepy kids who do horrible things to people (and animals) that they take a disliking too. But the children at the heart of this tale seem to be oblivious to what they are doing. Their behaviour is tied to their belief in God and that what they are doing is right by Him, so you might actually have sympathy for them. The nuns are largely to blame for their actions although there could be other factors involved, such as mental illness caused by early childhood trauma that they may have experienced before they were abandoned as babies at the gates of the convent.
These children don’t have the devil in them (they would be appalled to hear you say that). They don’t have psychic powers. And they aren’t angelic-looking youngsters who are serial killers in the making. These are kids who are well-meaning, even though their actions constantly hurt the people that are around them. The same could be said of any religious obsessive who fails to put Bible verses in context when living out their faith.
As such, you shouldn’t expect a typical horror movie in the mould of the other titles that we have mentioned. It’s still chilling – the sight of two children standing at the end of their parents’ bed in bloodied nightwear is very unnerving – but there are no jump scares or sensationalist scenes of kids committing murder because of psychopathic tendencies. This is a movie that is far different, which makes it quite difficult to categorize.
As the children, Carlos González Morollón (Tin) and Anastasia Russo (Tina) give excellent performances. They are very believable as the religious children, often frighteningly so, as they capture the essence of their character’s innocence while they are carrying out diabolical acts for the “good of God.”
Milena Smit (Lola) and Jaime Lorente (Adolfo) also perform brilliantly, especially Smit who is called upon to exhibit a range of emotions and reactions as she embodies a woman who is grieving one moment, wearily baffled the next, and completely terror-stricken for the latter half of the movie as her children’s religious mania threatens to destroy her family.
Kudos must also go to Rubin Stein, the director of Tin & Tina, who creates a real sense of unease as the movie runs its course. Rather than pointing his camera at his characters in scenes that could appear stagey, he is creative in his directorial choices, often filming his actors from unusual angles to add to the menacing atmosphere.
The music score by English composer Jocelyn Pook is worthy of mention too. At times, she adds to the creepy feel of the movie with haunting tracks that may raise the hair on the back of your neck and at other times, she fills the soundtrack with lighter themes that play to the children’s innocence.
Tin & Tina is often uncomfortable to watch, with scenes that will likely turn your stomach. The moment when the children “cleanse the soul” of the family dog is particularly sickening. But this isn’t a sensational or exploitative film where violent scenes occur because the director likes to shock his audience. This is something that is far smarter than usual genre fare and in its tale of two children who are driven to extreme acts because of their innocent belief in God, it is sometimes far more terrifying.
The movie has more in common with movies like Saint Maud in its tale of religious obsession than another Omen-alike movie where the devil makes all the decisions, so is certainly worth giving a go if you’re looking for an intelligent horror piece that will provoke thought as well as fear.
Read More: Tin & Tina Ending Explained
Feel free to check out more of our movie reviews here!
-
Verdict - 7/10
7/10