Child of Rage (1992)

The UK VHS cover

Released on Creator/CBS in 1992 and was based on the 1990 documentary of the same name, Child of Rage is a movie about Jill and Rob Tyler, who adopt two kids, Catherine (affectionately called "Cat") and Eric from an abusive home.

At first things seem a'ight, the kids are somewhat normal but kinda shy but, then, a little later, things get pretty bad, when Cat stabs the family dog for no reason. At first, the Tylers go to Doris, the kids' social worker, but she stays mum because of confidentiality rules. After some incident with Grandpa Henry, they take Cat to a psychologist but Cat plays innocent and so the therapist suspects nothin'. When they find Eric bruised and battered, he tells them that Cat did it and, afterwards, the latter puts him in the hospital.

After enough becomes enough (Cat, by this point, cut a classmate with glass), Doris finally fesses up telling the Tylers that she got a call about someone concerned about the kids. She'd go to investigate and found the worse home she's come to see--Eric was in pretty bad shape but Catherine was in worse shape (it's not really said how worse). She gives the Tylers a book titled Kids Who Kill. She doesn't tell them too much else but she does tell that the kids have an older sister, by the name of Stephanie.

Tropes used in Child of Rage (1992) include:

• Broken Bird: Stephanie, the kids' older sister, and it's not without a good reason. Her father sexually abused her and, from what's not said, her mother did (or could do) nothing about it and, as we can guess, her life didn't turn out any better after she left.
• Children Are Innocent: Rob, being a reverend, wants to believe this. We can't call Cat innocent but we do know that she's messed up.
• Creepy Child: Cat, though, she's mostly a deconstruction. She beats up/ bully Eric (later, putting him in the hospital), stabs the dog, tries to seduce their adoptive grandfather, and then she cuts a classmate with glass. When confronted, she'd lie and play innocent.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Yes, since the movie explores the effects of one, Stephanie, Eric, and Catherine do have one. See, their father sexually abused Stephanie and, when Stephanie got old/big enough to fight back, he turned his abuse onto Catherine, a baby. We don't know how he treated Eric but he wasn't any better.
• Department of Child Disservices: Played with. It's not so much that Doris doesn't want to tell the Tylers what happened with Catherine. It's that, legally, she probably can't and, outside of telling them about the state of the previous home and their older sister Stephanie, her hands are tied.
• Does Not Like Men: Catherine, tho, this is downplayed, but a sign that Cat is particularly off is that, on their first night in their new home, she refuses to have Rob tuck her in. That's saying nothing to what she does to Eric, as she beats him up and, at one point, almost tries to kill him. Related to that, the classmate she cut with a piece of glass was a boy. Having an abusive bio-dad will do that to you.
• Foster Kid: Catherine and Eric have gone thru three foster homes. The former's violent tendencies might be a reason why.
• Good Parents: Jill and Rob try to be but it's hard to do that when your child has backstory that wasn't disclosed and you ain't real sure how to help them.
• Nothing Is Scarier: We don't know how worse of shape Catherine was in when Doris took them out of their father's care but we know that Eric's condition was nothing compared to hers. Relatedly, we know Catherine's baby clothes were caked in something of hers but rememberin' what her sister said, we might have a clue as to what that something is.
• Parental Abandonment: In Eric and Cat's backstory, their bio-mother has died and their dad was.... something else.
• Promiscuity After Rape: While she was sexually abused, Stephanie, tho, it's downplayed, as she's a topless dancer.
• Rape as Backstory: As we learn, Stephanie and then Cat were sexually abused by their father. Stephanie got old enough to fight back, so he turned his abuse onto a baby Catherine.

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