Village of the Dammed (1960)

Despite the fact that this movie was remade in the 1990s, and that it likely airs on TCM every Halloween time, I have never seen either adaptation of this movie before, nor did I really know what it was about. But sometimes that's the fun of watching a movie' and this movie did not disappoint! This movie can be summed up in one sentence: a movie length production of an episode of The Twilight Zone.

Centered in a small British Village, one quiet day, everyone in the village suddenly passes out for several hours. The military is brought in, and the test the air, but there is no reason to explain why the entire village has collapsed. Just as suddenly, everyone awakes - seemly fine. Professor George Zellaby (George Sanders) and his wife, continue their lives, only to discover a few months later that she is pregnant. They are extremely happy about the news, until they realize that in fact every woman of a 'certain age' has also become pregnant - including a very upset and very innocent teenager, and her mother. There is confusion and chaos in the town, as the women's' pregnancies progress faster than normal. The children are all born on the same day, and the viewer is told they have very arresting eyes, platinum blonde hair, and unusually long fingernails.

I love the fact that we don't see the children as infants. It reminds me of the famous scene in Rosemary's Baby (1968) when Rosemary looked in the bassinette to see the child of Satan/her baby, and she exclaims "What have you done to him? What have you done to his eyes, you maniacs!" The unseen is far more chilling than the seen.

The children develop quickly, and Zellaby realizes they have a telepathic bond to each other. By the age of three, all of the children exhibit the physical and mental attributes of children four times that age. They all look the same, dress the same, and walk together in groups. Most startling of all is that they show no capacity for love or feelings, and they can in fact read the minds of their "parents" and other villagers. In fact, the children are seen causing the deaths of other villagers through what look like accidents. The military soon realizes that this phenomena has occurred elsewhere in the world. Though the solution in every country where these children lived was to annihilate the town.

Hoping to avoid this drastic measure, and to save all of the villagers, Zellaby places the children in a separate building where he can learn from them, and he can teach them to live peacefully. And for some reason, I as a viewer, actually thought this might work. Zellaby was so passionate about his desire to learn from them and to truly want to make the best out of this situation. But the children resist, and Zellaby compares the children's resistance to reasoning with a brick wall.

After the children's inhuman nature becomes clear to him, Zellaby realizes that the only action he can take to save the village is to use the same force and destruction as was used in other parts of the world. Zellaby develops a plan to plant a bomb in the bulding with the children, and he uses this motif as self-protection against their mind. "Think of a brick wall..." Zellaby repeats as he enters the building with a bomb in his bag. David, Zellaby's "son" sees his father trying to mask the thoughts in his mind. But as soon as the children fully realize Zellaby's thoughts, it's too late for everyone - including Zellaby, who has been cornered by the children -  and the bomb explodes in a fiery burst.

For me, the ending was delightfully shocking. But I am left with so many questions! Who are they?Where did they come from? What was their ultimate goal? But as with the unseen, the unknown is often far more chilling than the known.