Children of the damned

1964

Sequels week rolls on. Like Critters 4 I had never seen Children of the damned before. However that’s about the only similarity between the two.

Who’s in this?
Ian Hendry as Tom Lllewllyn who is interested in these smart kids. Hendry worked very steadily from the mid-50’s until his death in 1984. Perhaps best known for his short stint in the Avengers although my favorite role was when he played opposite Vincent Price in Theater of blood.

Alan Badel as David Neville who like Tom is interested in these kids, but not in the ruthless manner that the government soon will be interested. Badel was a solid actor in stage and screen. He was in Shogun, Day of the Jackal and tons of other things.

Barbara Ferris as Susan the aunt of one of the smart kids. She worked quite a bit in British tv for a few decades.

What’s this about?
Not a direct sequel to Village of the damned, but this instead explores a similar situation. So this kid is tested and the UK as being a brainiac and like it turns out there are five more kids like him in the world. Eventually they are all brought to the UK, hey that way they can all be in this here movie. Now it turns out that none of these kids have dads and one even said she was doinked or bonked, actually she said she was never touched but you get the idea. Plus these kids have controlled others with their minds- whoeeee that’s a spooky power that is. The UK kid stays with his aunt Barbara because he made his rough and mean mom walk in front of a car and get all banged up. Science types Tom and Dave want to study and help the children, but the government types are all wild eyed and nervous Nellie types over these smarties so they want to get rid of them permanent like. That last plan leads to a bunch of adults with guns killed by the kids. The kids stare and barely talk, the scientists oh and ah, the government gets all mad and huffy. Eventually fear leads the adult suity types to blow up all the buildings around the kids to bury them under rubble-problem solved. Roll the credits.

The negatives-This film revolves far more around debatable issues than the first films does. With that idea this is a very talky film and it is certainly slow at times.

The positives-The acting is around the board all pretty good. The camera angles and black and white photography are strong. The story and the issues about whether a superior race should worked with or stumped out is interesting.

Overall it’s a decent film and it works as a sequel in my mind because it revolves around similar characters but in a different situation rather than just re-hashing the previous film. Now when it’s said and done I prefer Village of the damned to this film. Mainly just because it’s hard to beat George Sanders and that brick wall bit.