Village of the Damned

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Village of the Damned

1960

1h 18m

Sci-Fi

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

93%

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42 Reviews

78%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

One day the peaceful village of Midwich is cast into a mysterious sleep for several hours, but with no obvious consequences, until soon all the women of child-bearing age turn out to be pregnant. Their children are all born at the same time, and grow quickly into very spooky young people, with strange white-blonde hair and eerie eyes.

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Critics Consensus

Chilling performances and a restrained, eerie atmosphere make this British horror both an unnerving parable of its era and a timeless classic.

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Times (UK) Staff

The Times (UK)

Fantasy is tricky material to handle, on the screen even more so than in print, and Village of the Damned... is to be congratulated on making a creditable shot at a difficult job.

Sep 28, 2022

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Patrick Gibbs

Daily Telegraph (UK)

[Provides] a good deal of harmless excitement before the invention finally runs down... Here the fantasy always seems more credible than the reality, with the result that we are more amused than chilled.

Sep 28, 2022

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Guardian Staff

Guardian

The story is most ingenious and is told by Wolf Rilla with just the right laconic touch.

Sep 28, 2022

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Kevin Carr

Fat Guys at the Movies

A chilling story of passive alien invasion and paranoia.

Rated: 4/4

Nov 18, 2023

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C.A. Lejeune

Observer (UK)

Written and handled with a considerable amount of delicacy, it may possibly appeal more to the adults than the adolescents, and the further you have moved away from the fantasy the more you will understand its chill.

Sep 28, 2022

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Keith Brace

Birmingham Post

The thoughtful, serio-comic book has become a much watered-down, rather mild horror film, as thick with clichés as the Midwich hedges with sukebind.

Sep 28, 2022

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Noel L

I got a bit of a Children of the Corn vibe with a twist of another film that I can't put my finger on. Overall a very good movie

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/30/25

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Isaiah Y

Great plot makes this a horror classic

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

10/24/25

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thiago s

Filme mais ou menos, o roteiro é fraco, as cenas de terror são mais ou menos, a história é fraca, o elenco é fraco, e ninguém ajuda a melhorar o filme, os personagens são fracos, e o filme deveria ter cenas bem melhores e relevantes, para fazer o filme ser bom, e o filme tem um suspense bacaninha, e o final é bom.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

09/15/25

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Lau S

I love this horror movie! Damn great!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

07/29/25

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Michael C

I was going to give "Village of the Damned" a three-star rating, but I added a half star more mainly because I was impressed by how well the cast did in their respective roles. While I did not love "Village of the Damned", I did like it. The movie has a very well written script, as stated previously, the cast is very good and I was never bored. The best performance is given by the late George Sanders. The Academy Award winning actor is terrific as Gordon Zellaby. A school professor who is both fascinated and terrified by the children born with strange and dangerous abilities. Martin Stephens does a good job as Gordon's "son" David. Seeing how Gordon teach the children and at the same time discovers a way he can ultimately defeat them is a treat as well. "Village of the damned" is a well-made and entertaining movie that is worth seeing at least once. Just remember before you see it, start thinking of a brick wall.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

06/23/25

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Paul C

I first watched this film - about identical alien children born to women in an English village - when I was around ten years old, and it had little effect on me. On repeat reviewing, I found it incredibly unnerving; the staring eyes of the children, the creepy setting in black and white.............There are no jump-scares, just the uneasy feeling that enters your head and stays there; so much so that I would be reluctant to watch it again now. Unusually for a literary adaptation (it it based on Wyndham's 'The Midwich Cuckoos'), it's far more effective than the book, which lacks tension, and has little build-up towards the end. The atmosphere of the film, made all the more scary for its setting in sleepy rural England, builds to a chilling and very effective climax.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/07/25

Full Review

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Wolf Rilla

Director

George Sanders

Gordon Zellaby

Barbara Shelley

Anthea Zellaby

Michael Gwynn

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Synopsis

One day the peaceful village of Midwich is cast into a mysterious sleep for several hours, but with no obvious consequences, until soon all the women of child-bearing age turn out to be pregnant. Their children are all born at the same time, and grow quickly into very spooky young people, with strange white-blonde hair and eerie eyes.

Director: Wolf Rilla
Producer: Ronald Kinnoch
Screenwriter: Stirling Silliphant, Wolf Rilla, Ronald Kinnoch, John Wyndham
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Genre: Sci-Fi
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 7, 1960, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 1, 2009
Runtime: 1h 18m

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