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General Major 
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TITLE |
Children of the Dark (1994) (TV Film) |
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DISABILITY |
General
Light sensitivity |
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NOTES |
The true
case of two sisters who have a disease which |
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makes them
dangerously sensitive to light. Regretfully they |
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are
discriminated against by neighbours who call them the |
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"Vampire
Girls". The problems caused by this is what the film |
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is mainly
about. And a comment at IMDB says that it "really |
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goes
overboard to a point of where it's just kind of dumb after
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The main
actors are quite good but the film suffers after the |
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children
have been diagnosed. What follows are crises and |
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confrontations. And once again there is the problem of not
|
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having
medical insurance. The first sister taken to hospital |
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needs tests
including a biopsy which will cost $400 which the |
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parents
don't have. Fortutiously the father is able to sell a |
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treasured
motorbike for $450. The tests reveal that the girl |
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has zeno
(sic) pigmentosa (I was unable to transcribe what |
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the doctor
said). This can cause skin cancer, blindness and |
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mental
retardation if the person is subject to bright light. The |
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other
daughter is tested and found to have the same |
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exceptionally rare disease. |
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Almost
immediately the family encounter prejudice from |
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workmates,
other children at school, and neighbours. In fact |
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they are
driven out of town and go on the road. Sleeping in |
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their van
they are rudely awakened by a man carrying a gun |
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accusing
them of trespass. But miraculously when he hears |
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the plight
of the girls he offers them shelter and all appears to |
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This is a
true story but in the film the actions of the neighbours |
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appears
unrealistically extreme when they go to the lengths |
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of trying to
burn down the family's house. |
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Notes
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