Das Dorf der Verdammten

I originally saw this when I was in junior high on late night TV. Those glowing eyes gave me nightmares for weeks! Seeing it now MANY years later, it still scares me. It's very quiet but very spooky. No real on-screen violence, no special effects (with the exception of the eyes) and all talk but never dull. The film is intelligent, doesn't talk down to the audience and handles the subject matter in a very realistic manner. Most people in horror films act like idiots--not in this one! Also some superb acting by George Sanders, Barbara Shelley (as his wife) and those creepy little kids (especially Martin Stephens) helps a lot. Proves a quiet little, goreless film can scare you silly. AT ALL COSTS, AVOID THE 1995 REMAKE!!!!!!! Carpenter's a great director, but you can't remake a great film. See this one!!

Village of the Damned is directed by Wolf Rilla and is a fairly faithful adaptation of the novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham. It stars George Sanders, Barbara Shelley, Martin Stephens & Michael Gwynn. It was originally meant to be an American produced picture starring Ronald Colman but MGM got itchy feet on account of what they deemed as some sinister issues. A couple of years down the line the film was relocated to England and shot on location at Letchmore Heath, with Sanders stepping in for the recently passed away Colman.

The peaceful English village of Midwich falls victim to a strange occurrence that sees the inhabitants fall asleep for several hours. With no clue to exactly what happened or what caused such an event, the villagers are further baffled to find all the women of Midwich have suddenly fell pregnant. Come the births of the children it's apparent that all is not well here in this once sleepy little village.

The 1950s was a great decade for the sci-fi movie fan, with the paranoia of potential atomic war and communist fervour taking hold, a ream of B movie schlockers tapped into this feverish air of mistrust. With the sight of giant creepy crawlies and atomic monsters rampaging across America creating much fun, it's arguably with the alien invasion that 50s cinema garnered its real terror. Enter English sci-fi writer John Wyndham (The Day Of the Triffids), who wrote The Midwich Cuckoos in 1957. Wyndham came up with an original idea to take the alien invasion premise to another level, use children. Horrible, creepy, blonde haired, blank staring, children.

The film in truth is too short to fully do justice to Wyndham's frightening novel, while other issues such as the barely believable coupling of Sanders and Shelley ensures the film has a lot of creakiness within. But it's still a potent bit of sci-fi horror that, come the latter stages, cranks up the creep factor as the children are born and the piece becomes a conventional monster movie. It's here where Rilla does a terrific job of building the dread. Armed with a small budget of under $300 thousand (it was a monster box office smash), the stop frame effects work is surprisingly effective, as are the child actors. Led by the impressive Martin Stephens who a year later would continue the creepy vein as Miles in The Innocents. A more than decent sequel would follow three years later {Children Of the Damned} and a poor remake by John Carpenter would surface in 1995. But it's this one that stands the test of time as a genre classic. Spooky atmosphere coupled with a genuinely intelligent and sinister story makes for an eerie 70 odd minutes of cinema. 8/10

On a perfectly normal, lovely afternoon in the English countryside, a small town is suddenly taken over by an unseen presence. Everyone within the town - man, woman and child - suddenly passes out cold for no apparent reason whatsoever. Anyone who attempts to enter the town from the outside is also stricken down, yet revive instantaneously when removed from the danger zone. No one, not police or military, can pass the invisible barrier, but within a few hours the strange presence is gone. Everyone seems to be alright...until a few weeks later, when all of the women in town who are of childbearing age discover themselves to be pregnant. Nine months later, a dozen identical children are born to these somewhat suspicious mothers, children with white- blond hair and scary eyes that glow. The children are oddly emotionless and only associate with each other, acting as a single entity. Worst of all, they can make anyone do whatever they want them to do, which often has fatal results. Can kindly schoolteacher (the wonderful George Sanders), whose beloved wife has borne one of these creatures, help the alien children embrace their human half? Or will he have to destroy them all?

This is an absolute masterpiece of paranoia, sci-fi style. The acting is superb, especially by the late and under-appreciated Mr. Sanders, whose compassion and intellect sets the tone for this quiet and somewhat sad little tale. The lovely Barbara Shelley as Sanders loving wife is sweet and totally believable. Indeed, the townsfolk are all very realistic and approachable, kind and simple folk who don't really deserve the wrath of the spooky children who have invaded their small town. Young Martin Stephens, who also turned in a creepy performance in the ghostly masterpiece "The Innocents" is every bit as creepy here as George and Barbara's "son."

Filmed in moody black and white, this movie creeps along with all the menacing stealth of a thick London pea souper. This is an intelligent horror film which deserves better attention. It probably won't be appreciated by people who consider expletives and explosions to be main characters, but for people who prefer horror with brains (and not brains ripped out of skulls) this is the film for them. Fans of George Sanders shouldn't miss this; it's quite a switch from his usual smarmy roles, and a nice switch at that.

Highly recommended!

Village of the damned is a tense, well made film. It keeps you on the edge of your seat right the way through, and the ending is brilliant. It benefits from the quaint setting of an isolated English town, and the acting is largely pretty good, especially that of the creepy children.

This 1960 film is much better than the 1995 American remake, which went for gore and loud bangs rather than tension.

This classic low budget, black and white film is right up there with the best of the sci-fi/horror movies of the time. It appears that it was shot on a very low budget ($300,000), thus no special effects beyond the superimposed glowing eyes of the children and the burning house at the end (not much of an effect). But it became a real moneymaker and a cult developed around it. They went on to make a sequel which doesn't live up to the original.

The cast, though limited, is quite good. The ever sophisticated, urbane, George Sanders as the scientist; Barbara Shelley from Hammer films as his wife; and little Martin Stephens as David, putative offspring of Shelley and Sanders. This kid is evil personified and does a bang-up job for such a youngster.

The story involves the village of Midwich and the birth of 12 children fathered in a very strange way that is never totally explained, who are intellectual giants with one purpose.....take over the world. Should they be destroyed or studied?....that's the problem facing Sanders and the government. Sanders comes to the inevitable conclusion and because they can read his thoughts, he must think of a brick wall in order to mask his intent. The ending, although not surprising is still effective.

This film is a keeper and is recommended to all those who like their films straight to the point without all the special effects and computer generated action. It's minimal with maximum punch.