Other movies in this series:
Children of the Damned

Rish's Reviews
This, believe it or not, is the 800th movie reviewed on the Horror Film Compendium. I find that statistic to be utterly amazing, especially since ten years ago I wouldn't have guessed there were eight hundred horror movies in existence. Even more shocking is that we have only scratched the surface of how many of them there are out there.
Tyranist and I like to review movies of renown or special merit for these milestone numbers, though I'm not sure how Red Water ended up as movie 700.
A couple of weeks back, I was re-reading Stephen King's novella "Low Men In Yellow Coats," which is one of the last great things he wrote. In it, a big deal is made about the movie Village of the Damned, so I thought I'd scoop it up.
V.O.T.D. is a classic, and I had never seen it. When every man, woman, and child in the English town of Midwich loses consciousness for a few hours, naturally, people are concerned. But when a handful of the village's women find themselves pregnant, even if they've never been with a man, well, that's downright peculiar. When the children are born, all exhibiting the same cold, unfeeling brilliance, well now, that's just weird. And have I mentioned their silvery hair, glowing eyes, and ability to control people's minds?
A short film, it was based on a novel called "The Midwich Cuckoos." That title comes from the fact that cuckoos are birds that find the nests of other birds, lay their eggs there, and have the other birds raise their offspring for them (while the real offspring die). Apparently, this project was shelved for years in the late Fifties, deemed potentially controversial and inflammatory. Finally, it was made on the cheap in Britain and was a big success when it came out.
George Sanders plays the hero. Lovely Barbara Shelley, star of many Hammer productions, costars as his wife, and mother of David, sort of the children's spokesman/leader. The real stars of the film, of course, are the children of Midwich. Part of what's disturbing is that the children are never 100% explained. While in the novel this was not the case, what we don't know is often scarier than what we know. The film is surprisingly intelligent for its time. I think there are two factors to blame-- or thank--there: one is that it's based on a book. The other is that it's British.
There are a lot of interesting concepts in the film, as well as scary ideas. Children frighten me. I've exploited that fear in many stories and will probably do so forever. The idea of an immaculate conception is disturbing if you think about it. The concept of a hyper-intelligent child is also disturbing. But one without emotion is just evil. The idea of the superman without humanity (which is how Western culture viewed the Soviet threat during the Cold War) terrifies people.
Besides its great title, Village of the Damned is a great movie too. But is it Horror? Well, it's either that or Science Fiction (maybe both). Yeah, it's Horror. Why would I question it?
Even though a mediocre remake was made a few short years ago, I kept trying to think of ways the film could be modernised or updated. Improved, maybe. And even though the John Carpenter remake was weak when I first saw it, I think I'll rent it again to compare.
I'm pretty sure this was called "Village of the Darned" where I grew up. Though I didn't know him as a little boy, I'd bet any amount of money that tyranist was much like the children of Midwich.
Best Scare: Oh, their eyes. Sure.
I'd Recommend It To: Anyone interested in a thoughtful, disturbing old classic.
Posted: May 18, 2006

Total Skulls: 6

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?