Sunday, November 30, 2014

"Village of the Damned (1960)" - Not Bad At All

The version from 1960 was the first for "Village of the Damned" and I remembered creepy kids with spooky eyes but that was about all.

The movie is actually well done as the build-up to What the Hell Happened is skillful and the music even fits to the story.

The premise is that perhaps it's possible to make a superior type of human so let's see how they behave.  It turns out they do things perceived as evil but only to those who sought to harm them in some way.  They don't seem motivated by emotion and react entirely on logic.  Spock came much later and his lines were often amusing but these kids would definitely kill you.

A secondary theme is what happens when you have twenty cases of Immaculate Conception at the same time.  Not surprisingly, this does not go so well.

The kids said they wanted to be left alone and they would increase their numbers on their own.  The implication was that lesser humans would die out and the new and improved version would remain, all natural and no need for combat.

Of course we kill them and fade to black but it leaves the question of whether it was the right thing.  Was there no possible accommodation that could be made.

On a letter grade, I'll go B+ as it was much better than I remembered.  The premise is interesting, the handling of it is novel and the conclusion leaves room for worthy discussion.  Well done.


There are awards, of course.

Creepiest Thing that Wasn't Supposed to Be Creepy in a Sci-Fi Movie

The village doctor smoking non-filter cigarettes while he delivers babies is pure cinematic inspiration.

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