The Village of the Damned

Village of the Damned (1960) Directed by Wolf Rilla From the Novel "The Midford Cuckoos" by John Wyndham.

The Common European Cuckoo (Cuculus Canorus) is a brood parasite. This means that the Cuckoo lays its egg in the nest of another species, frequently the Reed Warbler. It then moves on, never being involved with its young again.

When the chick Cuckoo is hatched, it immediately shoves any other chicks or eggs out of the nest. It is much larger and stronger than the warbler chicks, so the outcome is never in doubt. The Reed Warblers then devote their entire energies to raising this alien child. And it takes all their energy as this changeling quickly grows to weigh more than both "parents" combined. The fledgling leaves the nest, and finds another set of Reed Warblers to victimize in its own turn.

The quiet English village of Midwich could be called a sleepy little town. But when the entire population falls asleep, dropping where they stand. When the powers that be investigate, they discover there is a ring around the entire village. Anyone who crosses the invisible line falls asleep. Unfortunately, it is in point of fact a dome, so when the airplane sent to investigate flies too low, the pilot is affected, with fatal results. An officer tied to a rope falls asleep within the circle, but revives when pulled back, only feeling strangely cold.

Then, as mysteriously as it began, it ended. Everyone woke up, to discover their tubs overflowing, the iron burned through a shirt, their cars crashed, what ever would be the natural consequences of abandoning your life for a few hours. No one shows any ill effects, for about two weeks.

Every woman of child bearing years is pregnant. Included in this is Anthea Zellaby (Barbara Shelley) wife of Gordon Zellaby (George Sanders). Zellaby is a scientist. He has been trying to understand what has happened from the start. He is cool, rational, reserved and very , very English.

The twelve children show eerie similarities; all are platinum blonde, all grow at a phenomenal rate, all are incredibly intelligent. More startling, if one of them learns something, like how to work a puzzle box, they all know how to defeat that puzzle box, sight unseen.

And there is a more sinister side to their abilities. Anthea accidentally gave David a too hot bottle. Little David's eyes glowed eerily, and Anthea stuck her hand in the scalding hot bottle warmer.

As the children grew, more differences became obvious. The children were unemotional, reserved, and moved in lockstep. I mean more than most Englishmen. They were pragmatic, and quick to retaliate against any threat. Eventually, it was decided to allow them to live communally with Zellaby as their teacher.

But even this remove from the village is not enough to protect the people. Human beings react to the unknown with fear. From fear comes violence, but with the children, from violence comes bitter reprisals. And they have no conscience to hold them in check.

One thing Zellaby notes; the children used to display fear when a plane flew over. Now they don't. His conclusion, they now feel they have control of the situation, meaning they can control the pilot, even from that distance. Finally, the children inform him that the time has come for them to leave. He asks why. They must scatter to avoid destruction. Zellaby knows that the colony of similar children in Russia has been destroyed, at great cost.

So, now Zellaby must take a stand. His approach of rational logic has failed, and soon the children will be beyond control or containment. And Zellaby has a plan. Its not much of a plan, but it is all he has, and if it fails...humanity is doomed.

This movie is delightfully disturbing, because it plays on two of man's hardwired instincts; protect children, and fear the unknown. These two drives, when brought into opposition, create a terrible frission, that allows this very simply done tale to achieve true horror.

Very little is explained. We never learn how the Midford coma was achieved. We never learn who was responsible. We never even really learn their true goals. We just know that the cuckoos are among us, and it does not bode well.

I think that is what elevates this above most horror films of the 50s and 60s. It never gives us insight, it just lets us deal with our fears. And we never do that very well.