Yes, you lucky souls, in it's current release, "Children Of The Damned" and "Village Of The Damned" are paired up as an absolutely terrific double feature, so now, you can rent or buy it and make a weekend of it!!! Once again written by John Wyndham with music by Ron Goodwin, "Children Of The Damned" is arguably as good, or maybe even better in some people's eyes, as it's predecessor, "Village Of The Damned!" For me, the first movie is a more cerebral, but this one is a lot more grisly and graphic!
Ron seemed to get a chance to stretch out a bit more on this flick, but he still never was given a chance to swing out like he did in "Day Of The Triffids" or like you know he can, just the same, this is some very spacey and moody music, that accompanies this film quite rightly!!
Ian Hendry as Col Tom Llewellyn and Barbara Ferris as Susan Eliot both have some serious issues in this movie. He really thinks the kids are allright, but she becomes completely under their control, and even serves as their mouthpiece for a lot of the film!!
These are the three main protagonists in this flick, Alan Badel as Dr. David Neville, you've already been introduced to Ian in the middle, and Alfred Burke as Colin Webster! They've got their work cut out for them!!!
Pretty grisly, yeah, that dude really shouldn't have shot their dog, that was really extraordinarily stupid!!!
Taking the concept of 'the dirty look' combined with 'if looks could kill' and you've got some real trouble on your hands!!
The real basic notion is that kids learn a lot faster than adults!!!
A Lot Faster!!! The kids rig up the organ in the church to blast out the adults eardrums and brains, too bad they didn't have some Hendrix!!
Ian Hendry was lookin' like a cross between Chevy Chase and George Bush, and although he was married to Janet Munro for like 8 years, he really got dealt some bad cards in life. He originally had the top billing in "The Avengers" over Patrick Macnee, but left TV for the movies after one season. He worked on a ton of British films and TV over the years, mostly in cop roles, but never did much other horror. Sadly, Ian Hendry died of internal bleeding on Christmas Eve in 1984 at only 53 years old!
So, all the ambassadors from all the different countries want their own kids back; they don't have a clue that the children aren't really theirs, and that they are of one collective mind. Lots of politics going on here!
This is a very good movie, and it's hard to fault it, but I really liked the blonde brats versus this multi-cultural mix, they were a lot creepier!!!
John Wyndham seemed to have a penchant for explosive endings!! I really like the fact that in both of these movies, he never explains where the kids came from, or what they actually have planned! It's just all understood!!! Your mind fills in the blanks!!!
This was the best print that Tabonga could get by trading his recently vacated toilet seat to some fool, so the stills are few! This title card reflects the German title! It was released in the U.S.A. as "Hypnosis"!!
Pretty dang suave-a-voo club, with some stylish entertainment including Guy Ballet!!
The main act is none other than Massimo Serato as Georg von Cramer! I love this part, Massimo also acted under the handle of John Barracuda, and I don't know why, but that's funny to me!
Dummies are never funny, just like ugly ceramic dolls!!!! Nothing but evil and creepy!!
What cool music for such a horrid scene is what struck me first at the beginning of this Italian film! Here's what happens, back in his dressing room, Georg gets robbed and knocked out, and when his buddy Erik finds him, instead of helping him, he decides it's the perfect opportunity to beat Georg's brains in, and blame it on some somebody else, since he wants his woman! Erik pretty much defines the term, 'best friend!'
There was so much neat music throughout the whole film, it was almost impossible to trim it down to this short 6 minute piece, and that's probably because "Ipnosi" as it is known in Italy had three composers, Francesco De Masi, Angelo Francesco Lavagnino, and Roman Vlad working on the music, who, between the three of them had like 380 movie credits! These guys knew how to work all the genres, and they were used here to full effect!!
The dummy's eyes tell the rest of the story!!! Find a copy if you can!!
