The Midwich Cuckoos

Village of the Damned

source: The Midwich Cuckoos

Trailer—Village of the Damned

Village of the Damned

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.

at least if you're a science fiction and horror fan. There's a great build-up here and a very satisfying climax. This has a wonderful eerie feel reminiscent of the feeling one gets watching "the original Outer Limits". The story feels a little bit more like "the Twilight Zone" however with the questions of morality, right and wrong it raises. This film might not appeal as widely to non-genre fans but it's classic great stuff for the fan. Best scenes involve the eyes--it's a very effective nightmare when it's your own children who are the evil ones(or are they?).

Intelligent low-key sci-fi thriller about a small English village where all the women become mysteriously pregnant and give birth to strange emotionless children with telepathic abilities. Brilliant script adapted from John Wyndham's novel The Midwich Cuckoos. Taut, suspenseful direction from Wolf Rilla. Superb performances, particularly from the legendary George Sanders and child actor Martin Stephens as the leader of the creepy kids. It's such an effective, eerie film; a true classic. They sadly don't make them like this anymore, as you can see by the inferior 90's remake. I recommend this to anyone with a brain.

This is a great Classic film mainly because of the great movie star George Sanders(Gordon Zellaby),"Hangover Square",'45, who unfortunately took his own life. In this film Sanders plays a professor and has the great pleasure of raising a child with Barbara Shelley(Antnea Zellaby), who turns out to become a child with glaring eyes and a very bad temper! It seems the children in this film seem to grow at a very rapid pace and have great hidden abilities to do just about everything they want in controlling the minds of all ADULTS! In 1960, this was a great Horror film and captivated the movie goers. This is truly a great Classic Film to enjoy!

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!!