It takes a village

Filmbrain finally got around to seeing 1960's Village of the Damned. He (like most people) was familiar with the famous image of the even-creepier-than-Haley-Joel-Osment children with glowing eyes, but he had never actually seen it. Overall, it's not a bad film. It's much like a beautifully shot, extended Twilight Zone episode, and shares a similar tone. What is remarkable about the film is how very British it is. When Filmbrain thinks of sci-fi films from the Cold War-era, he conjures up images of Peter Graves running around like a madman saving America from Godless aliens in films like It Conquered the World. Yet here we have an altogether different approach. Twelve women in a tiny village suddenly find themselves miraculously pregnant (Mary x 12?). They give birth to pint-sized proto-fascists who not only share the same pageboy haircut, but wear identical suits and black coats. (One would imagine the parents could have tried to dress them differently. A nice sun dress, perhaps.) The villagers are told that similar events had happened in other parts of the world, but the children were killed at birth, given the extremely odd and unsettling circumstances. However, these are fine upstanding British folk who are convinced that with equal portions of rum, sodomy and the lash (Filmbrain is of course embellishing a bit) these precocious imps can be turned into good citizens of Her Majesty's Empire. Rather than "dispose" of them, hero George Sanders (he's good in anything) asks for one year to teach and study the children. That's the first mistake. Soon after, the children take control of everybody's mind, even influencing one unlucky chap to turn his rifle on himself (Blimey!) when he attempts to practice euthanasia on the tykes. But, several cups of tea later, a solution is found and all turns out for the best. In the interest of fairness, the film's humanistic approach is admirable. While the special effects look a bit cheesy today, it's still an effective film that must have registered high on the creep factor back in 1960. Filmbrain imagines that this version must be better than the Christopher Reeve/Kirstie Alley (!!!) remake.

Comments

[drew]

Filmbrain is correct. The John Carpenter Village Of The Damned is almost the worst movie of his career. And he made Memoirs Of An Invisible Man, for chrissakes!

Hey, if you haven't seen The Simpsons episode with The Bloodening, a blatant homage to Village, you should check it out. It's very British too, with the kids uttering lines like "And doctor, we know that you and the bootblack have been rogering the fishwife in the crumpetshop." You rarely see lines finer than that one...

[Care]

:/ I have only seen the remake, and I see now how blind I have been. British people are always better, and black and white as well. I am seeking this out immediately. *nod*