Village of the Damned is a 1960 sci-fi horror film, based on The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham.
In the quiet village of Midwich the entire population falls unconscious for a period of a few hours. There is complete silence apart from the eerie ringing of the church bells. It is quite a startling beginning and immediately we know something strange is at work.
The military establishes a cordon around Midwich and eventually everybody regains consciousness, apparently unharmed by the bizarre incident.
But – and it is a big but – two months later, all the women and girls of child-bearing age are discovered to be pregnant. And, to make things extra creepy, they all fell pregnant on the same day as the mysterious ‘time out’.
When the women start to give birth, we find the babies all weigh roughly the same and have, in the words of the local doctor, “Strange eyes.”
Village of the Damned is an absolutely cracking horror movie which really stands the test of time. The whole premise of the plot is extremely eerie, with a “What if?” kind of vibe. What would you do in that situation?
The men of the village are left angry and powerless. In fact one of the most intense moments occurs in the pub when the men all sit quietly, either drinking or playing darts. They are almost shell-shocked at what has happened.
The film has a quite wonderful cast, headed by George Sanders who is fabulous as Gordon Zellaby, commanding and frustrated in equal measure. And incredibly brave, as his actions at the finale show. And the brilliant Barbara Shelley provides great support as his loving wife, Anthea. There is such an interesting moment when Anthea tells Gordon she is pregnant. We contrast their delight with another villager who finds out she is pregnant when her husband has been away at sea. It is incredibly well done.
The children are quite terrifying, with their glowing eyes and monotone way of talking. And they are powerful, which we see clearly on a couple of occasions, when they hypnotise a man into shooting himself with a rifle, and hypnotise another into setting himself on fire.
The fact that this is set in a nondescript village makes it all the more frightening. If it can happen here, it can happen anywhere.
Village of the Damned is a proper classic which still packs a punch 60 years later.
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