Das Dorf der Verdammten

Some women give birth various strange children with supernatural power and extraordinary intelligence . An suspenseful and interesting premise dealing about several strangely emotionless children all born at the same time in a small village in Midwich . The scene is a village called Midwich in which a rare event overcomes the idyllic location . At the same moment, every single person and animal in town has passed out just as suddenly ; some unknown force has put all the inhabitants of Midwich to sleep. Everybody falls into a deep, mysterious sleep for several hours in the middle of the day. When the army gets involved, they find this force has precise boundaries. A few hours later, this strange force disappears and everyone wakes up. The mystery remains unsolved for weeks, but it has a sequel. Later on , every woman (Barbara Shelley married to George Sanders) capable of child-bearing is pregnant . All Midwich women of childbearing age are unaccountably pregnant . Nine months later, the babies are born, and they all look normal, but it doesn't take the "parents" long to realise that the kids are not human or humane .And the glowing-eyed children (Martin Stephens , among others) they have will prove to be worse than what they could have feared. The children that are born out of these pregnancies seem to grow very fast and they all have the same blond hair and strange, penetrating eyes that make people do things , all of them have telephatic powers , the stare will paralyze the will of the villagers . They result to be mind-controlling demons or aliens . Meanwhile a government officer (good performance by George Sanders) along with the doctor (Laurence Naismith) attempt to stop their plans of conquest .

This classic Sci-Fi thriller contains chills , suspense , intrigue and creepy events about some precocious deadly children and their quest of power . MGM shelved the project, because it was deemed potentially inflammatory and controversial, specifically due to its sinister depiction of virgin birth . Eerie and strange plot very well developed by the screen-written Sterling Silliphant based on John Wyndham novel titled "The Midwich Cuckoos" that focuses a British village visited by some unknown life form which leaves the women of the village pregnant. Performance is frankly good as main cast as Barbara Shelley and Ronald Colman was originally supposed to star in this film but he passed away in 1958 and was replaced by an excellent George Sanders who married Colman's widow Benita Hume . Exceptional support cast formed by prestigious Brit actors as Michael G. Wynne , Laurence Naismith and very secondary Peter Vaughan as Policeman . Special mention to Martin Stephens as an unsettling little boy , his creepy effect of the glowing eyes was made by matting a negative image of their eyes over the pupils . Intriguing and atmospheric musical score by Ron Goodwin . Furthermore , it packs appropriate cinematography in black and white by Geoffrey Faithful who photographs splendidly the scenarios from the village . This suspenseful and thrilling film is well directed by Wolf Rilla . Rating : Very good , providing pleasant screams for the viewer . Essential and indispensable seeing for Barbara Shelley and George Sanders followers .

Other renditions based on John Wyndham novel titled ¨The Midwich cuckoos¨ and well adapted by Stirling Silliphant are the following : A nice sequel titled ¨Children of the damned (64)¨ by Anton Leader with Ian Hendry , Alan Badel and Barbara Ferris . It's subsequently made an acceptable remake (1995) titled ¨John Carpenter's Village of the damned¨ with the same premise still interesting enough to watch it and starred by Kirstie Alley , Christopher Reeve and Mark Hamill ; however, it suffers from unimaginative account because being a copy from original film with more violent and explicit scenes and fails to provide the intelligent atmosphere from previous story .

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 a very well-made thriller that seems to have been overlooked because of the sheer magnitude of its competition - Psycho. Both of these films are testaments to the idea that low budgets are very capable of producing great films. It is not the size of the budget that matters, it is the skill of the filmmakers and the actors. Village of the Damned makes use of a variety of very easily done but also very effective special effects, such as the boundary across which all people and animals lose consciousness, the creepy eyes on those kids, and their hypnotic powers.

The discussion of the exact same phenomenon happening to a few remote towns all over the world does a lot to show what these kids can do, and it increases the dramatic tension of the film as a whole. Cheaply made, but also very well made because a lot of thought was obviously put into it, Village of the Damned is a timeless thriller, even in black and white. When you watch a movie like this, if you are the kind of person who is so superficial about your movies that you refuse to watch black and white films, keep in mind that black and white photography REQUIRES good acting, to put it in the immortal words of Orson Welles. You can't have black and white photography and bad acting, the film would never work. Village of the Damned takes black and white photography and fills it with excellent acting, a fascinating story, and good direction that makes me wonder why this was the only film that Wolf Rilla ever directed.

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!

The best way to watch this movie is ignorantly. Go to Netflix now, put the movie at the top of your queue and watch it when it arrives. Read about it later. If you enjoy sci-fi classics like "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and "Them!"; if you love the Britishness of the Hammer horror pictures; if you prefer a well-told story, rich suspense, sympathetic characters and black-and-white photography to special effects, color and gore, you will want to see this film right away.

The movie begins in Midwich. We meet the scientist Gordon Zellaby having a telephone conversation. Mid-sentence he passes out. At the same moment, every single person and animal in town has passed out just as suddenly; some unknown force has put all the inhabitants of Midwich to sleep. When the army gets involved, we discover this force has precise boundaries. One soldier, after being lassoed around the waist, walks past the boundary, loses consciousness and immediately revives when his fellows pull him out of the infected area. A few hours later, this strange force disappears and everyone wakes up. The mystery remains unsolved for weeks, but it has a sequel. All Midwich women of childbearing age are unaccountably pregnant.

Watching this science-fiction movie paired with almost any modern one demonstrates how storytelling has devolved as special effects have advanced. It also demonstrates how one simple effect can be more memorable than a thousand complex ones. I happened to see this just before watching "The Forgotten" (2005), a stupid movie with expensive effects; but not of those expensive effects is as potent as this movie's signature device. When the blonde-haired Midwich children wreak psychic havoc, the picture freezes and their eyes glow. That inexpensive trick shot is worth the millions blown on "The Forgotten."

Another nice effect: George Sanders. He plays the hero, Gordon Zellaby, a scientist who becomes a dubious father to one of the Midwich freaks. Sanders plays rogues in almost every other movie, but here he is sweet-natured and convincingly so; he betrays not a shadow of his usual cynicism. Were this his only surviving film, one would think he was born to play kindly old men. The excellent cast has one other outstanding performance by Martin Stephens, who plays Sanders's cold-hearted "son." Would you be surprised to learn his voice was dubbed by a female actress specializing in children? I was surprised to learn it wasn't. That is the boy's own eerily precise diction.

Special praise must also go to the director and photographer, Wolf Rilla and Geoffrey Faithful, who give the movie the detached air of a documentary. The script, credited to Stirling Silliphant, George Barclay and Rilla, is an excellent adaptation of a fine book, "The Midwich Cuckoos" by John Beynon Harris. Fans of this movie will want to read it. The book has many enjoyable details that were necessarily and wisely cut from the adaptation. To note one difference, the children in the movie are psychically linked: what one knows they all know. But in the book, the boys are psychically linked with the boys, the girls with the girls; but there is little or no link between the two sexes. The reasons for this are fascinating.

I haven't seen the John Carpenter remake, and I don't want to. What would the ideal remake of this film look like? It would look like the original: black-and-white, set in the late fifties, cast with Brits and scripted with the same restraint. Maybe modern resources could add a piquant touch or two; it would be amusing to see all those sheep fall asleep in the opening scene. Oh, and that awful model shot of the school could be replaced. Otherwise, we have the film we want, so why remake it?