Village Of The Damned (1960) [Blu-ray]

This is a tight, eerie, gem told in just over an hour and yet its thrilling from start to finish. The direction, writing and acting are all top notch; the pacing is a slow burn that is riveting. In the mid morning hours, the people of the English village of Midwich are going about their normal daily routines when suddenly, just before 11am, every living thing collapses into a coma. Man, woman, dog, sheep, bird- all just fall. A strange invisible field of sorts surrounds the village, and any pilot flying below 5000 ft will also pass out. Over 3 hours later, they all awake, shaken and cold. Five months after that, they find that all the women in the village are pregnant and have given birth to ten-pound babies, all with white hair, glowing eyes, and extreme intelligence. Later its discovered that Midwich wasn't the only hamlet where this happened- several other villages across the globe had their own blackout, and subsequent child birth. The children, however, do not act like children. They lack affection, and tend to only associate within their own group. In time its discovered that these children all have a hive mind, possess telekinetic and telepathic abilities, and are ultimately responsible for injuries and deaths. At this point the movie becomes a tense standoff between whether to try to learn from these alien beings, or how to destroy them. I highly recommend this one!

The older I get, the creepier this movie gets. Wow, so good!

This black and white sci-fi/horror flick is a great adaptation of the novel, “The Midwich Cuckoos” by John Wyndham. It is pretty faithful to the novel in terms of the plot, only cutting out some of the more extraneous characters to simply things.In a rural English village called Midwich, all the inhabitants and animals in the town fall unconscious. They shortly awaken simultaneously.Later on, it becomes apparent that all the village women of childbearing years have simultaneously become pregnant. Naturally, this causes a great deal of angst among the villagers. Still, the women give birth, and, initially, the villagers take it all in stride.They soon realize, to the consternation of some, that the children are all quite special. Eventually, that realization will chill the villagers to the core, as they come to understand just how special these children are.This film is wonderfully acted by the entire cast, with George Sanders very effective in the leading role. This 1960 British film is definitely an oldie but a goodie. Those who love sci-fi/horror films will, undoubtedly, love it. I loved it when I first saw it as a child, and I love it still!

This is a very short, brief sci-fi movie that feels like an extended episode of an Outer Limits or Twilight Zone episode. Black and white photography is great and blu-ray transfer is excellent. For such a short movie, it does a good job of creating suspense. The visual effect of children's eyes glowing is very effective. I love the feature commentary. I am very picky about feature commentaries; sometimes they are dull and boring. But I think the feature commentary for this movie is very enjoyable. One of the reasons I bough this movie was for the kid actor, Martin Stephens. I knew him from one of my favorite haunting movies, The Innocents (1961) with Deborah Kerr. He was awsome in it. And he doesn't disappoint in this one (he actually shot this movie before the Innocents). He is just excellent in every shot, one of the best kid actors in history of cinema. If you like sci-fi and 1960s black and white sci-fi movies, this is a little gem. But keep in mind it is a very short, brief movie that feels more like an extended episode of a TV show.

Village of The Damned is an old black and white "horror" movie that hasn't aged real well. Maybe it is best described as a science fiction movie. It tells the story of Midwich; a small village in the United Kingdom, that suffers a strange population wide "lost time event." Everyone in the town becomes unconscious at the exact same moment. Eventually they awaken, and after a few months come to realise that all of the women capable of bearing a child are pregnant - even the ones that have not had a partner. This is such a great premise, but the film does not deliver on its potential - instead it rushes on to the birth of the strange children. Meanwhile, the military has discovered that the lost time event is not unique to Midwich, and that batches of the odd "perfect" children have been born in various locations including Russia. All of this action is only covered in dialogue, and it feels like a lesson in show don't tell. I wanted to see these other places! It's easy to have these feelings on watching Village of The Damned in the 21st century, but if you take the movie for what it is, and old horror movie from many, many years ago it's not half bad. Spoiler alert! The children are the first wave of an alien invasion! They come into the world convinced of their superiority, and hell bent on taking over. This is the part of the story that the film seems to linger on. There are a number of scenes depicting the children having confrontations, mostly with the adults of Midwich, and the film is at its best during these moments. I know they did a remake in 1995, and I have not watched it, but when I was done with Village of The Damned (1960) I felt like it was a great pitch for a much bigger and scarier science fiction horror film. I kind of wanted to see World of The Damned! So I guess they did the best with what they had back in the late nineteen fifties when they were making Village of The Damned, but the damned village is a little too tame for my tastes.

Surprisingly quick.

Le village des damnés est un classique du fantastique de 1960.La copie sur dvd rend justice au film,avec un noir et blanc incroyable ,une image en 16 neuviéme. Bien sur le film date un peu,mais on découvre ou redécouvre ce film splendide et inquiétant avec une Barbara Shelley magnifique de beauté et d'élégance.Le enfants des damnés est plus conventionnel,passé l'effet de surprise du premier film avec toujours une très bonne copie en noir et blanc.

Blu-ray' s aus der Warner Archiv Collection haben den Vorteil, dass sie Region-Free sind. So bekommt man Filme (im englischen Orginal) mit einer sehr guten Bildqualität auf Blu-ray die man hier oft nur auf DVD in meist bescheidener Qualität bekommt. Wer kein Problem damit hat auf deutschen Ton zu verzichten kann hier zugreifen. Versand aus Übersee hat bei mir auch immer ohne Probleme geklappt. Ich kann als Market-Place-Händler "MovieMars" sehr empfehlen, dort kaufe ich svhon seit Jahren immer wieder ohne Probleme.

Creepy movie, Barbara Shelley is amazing.

Les frissons de nos parents ne sont pas les nôtres ! Mais quand même, cette saga de E.T. aryanisés a quelque chose d'inquiétant et de prenant. Le premier volet a du génie (pour l'époque, mais on le ressent aussi), la suite manque d'inspiration. A déguster avec du recul et un regard d'après-guerre.