They were probably better off leaving Hollywood. So many of the child stars wind up broken, twisted and dysfunctional.
I was struck by the careful way Danny, the youngest actor was dealt with. The director knew he was dealing with a 5 year old child, who was deemed as too young to know the full meaning of this storyline. The director made an agreement with the actors not to tell Danny the entire narrative.
In the scene where “Mom” Shelly Duval runs around the house hold both toddler and dagger, I believe she held a doll, not the child. I wonder if directors of today take a child’s age into consideration when describing their character’s role to a child actor.
They were never in Hollywood. It was a British made film.