Children of the Damned (1964)

Director: Anton Leader

Cast: Ian Hendry, Alan Badel, Barbara Ferris

Synopsis: The United Nations conducts a global survey on child development, identifying six children with exceptional intelligence.

Children of the Damned is a sequel to Wolf Rilla’s Village of the Damned (1960) in name only. No attempt is made to link the two films in any way, and the children in this movie do not bear the physical characteristics of those in the first. In fact, the children in this movie form a kind of United Nations.

From the strikingly effective opening credits, Children of the Damned starts quite well and manages to build a nicely creepy atmosphere, ironically helped by what is clearly a small budget. Unfortunately, after half-an-hour or so the story gets badly bogged down, to the extent that very little seems to happen. The children’s choice of refuge from the adult world seems overtly symbolic and lacks subtlety. Seen in the context of this symbolism, the conclusion of the movie is questionable and poorly executed.

Director Anton Leader does well with the limited budget, and the movie is well shot, but Ian Hendry (Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter, Damien: Omen II) is miscast in the role of a sympathetic psychologist (he would probably have been better in the more cynical role of the geneticist). Children of the Damned is by no means a great movie, and if you have to choose between the two watch Village of the Damned – but it is still worth a look.

(Reviewed 24th March 2002)