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These Are the Damned

Play trailer Poster for These Are the Damned 1962 1h 36m Sci-Fi Play Trailer Watchlist
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88% Tomatometer 8 Reviews 55% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
An American man (Macdonald Carey) and an Englishwoman (Shirley Anne Field) discover genetically engineered children who can survive a nuclear war.

Critics Reviews

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Richard Brody The New Yorker 06/01/2015
Losey's strongest critique of the times emerges with a unique stylistic flourish in his wide-screen, black-and-white images, featuring slow glides, skewed angles, standoffish perspectives, and hectic striations. Go to Full Review
Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader 07/14/2007
More than an interesting curiosity, it's one of Losey's best English efforts, and Viveca Lindfors contributes a striking part as an eccentric sculptress. Go to Full Review
Judith Crist New York Herald Tribune 08/15/2022
A film that sticks to the ribs, that bothers you in its implication, that makes you do some of the work of interpreting what you have watched. Go to Full Review
MFB Critics Monthly Film Bulletin 01/31/2018
Coincidence piles up on coincidence, and unlikely behaviour upon unlikely behaviour, until the whole thing becomes impossible to take seriously. Go to Full Review
Sean Axmaker Seanax.com 04/11/2010
.. a strange collision of exploitation elements, visual elegance and emotional coolness, a fascinating oddity with strange angles that don't all fit neatly together but add up to a brilliant structure. Go to Full Review
Fernando F. Croce CinePassion 12/08/2009
'The age of senseless violence,' by Joseph Losey Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Daniel T. Nov 30 An exceptional gem with original and unpredictable story See more nick s 02/29/2024 After half an hour of screenplay it turns into a completely different movie. Some of the ways the characters react to situations seemed rather contrived. The scenes involving children were quite stagey. The movie was a great effort to present something quirky to the audience but the direction was a little rusty. See more Oliver M 11/02/2023 Yep…..the multi verse! Oliver Reed in parts of this is actually acting in A Clockwork Orange. See more 01/19/2017 Part 'Motor Psycho,' part 'Children of the Damned,' this worthwhile Hammer Films sci-fi effort hits a number of genres in one unique and compelling film. A biker gang, a hot female lead, creepy kids, government conspiracy, a mysterious hideaway - and more - it's all here, plus the repeated playing of a song you won't soon forget. 'Black leather, black leather!' Dig it, dammit! See more 02/09/2016 Odd blend of social drama (in which an American ex-pat pursues a young British girl but gets harassed by her brother and his band of "teddy boys") and science fiction (in which they stumble into an underground cave where a scientist has been raising children from birth contacting them only through a video screen). It doesn't entirely coalesce but around halfway through things started to become interesting - of course, the earlier uncomfortable social dynamics are probably more consistent with director Joseph Losey's other output (especially when he started working with Pinter). However, I was there primarily for the sci-fi in Hammerscope this time and it doesn't really disappoint - perhaps it feels even weirder (these cold-as-ice children and their predicament) because it's crammed uneasily into another picture. But such is/was the world where the nuclear threat was inserted surreally into everyone's daily existence (see also Peter Watkins' The War Game, filmed around the same time in Britain). Worth a look. See more 06/25/2015 A public servant is the only servant that has secrets from its master. An American tourist in Europe comes across a girl running away from her brother's gang. He rescues the girl, falls in love, but she surely isn't in love with him. They escaped in his boat and when she discovers his feelings she quickly asks to be dropped off on land. He pulls up to a strange house used by an eccentric doctor. They try to sail off but they end up washed up back at the house and saved by some strange kids who claim to reside in the doctor's mansion. What is going on in this strange house? "If I could explain these I wouldn't have to make them." Joseph Losey, director of The Servant, The Go-Between, Don Giovanni, Mr. Klein, A Doll's House, Concrete Jungle, Figures in a Landscape, and X: the Unknown, delivers These are the Damned. The storyline for this picture is interesting, unique, and unfolds well. The concept was better than I anticipated and the acting was okay. The cast includes Macdonald Carey, Shirley Anne Field, Viveca Lindfors, Alexander Knox, and Oliver Reed. "You must have respect for other people's property." I came across this movie on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and decided to give it a shot. This was better than I anticipated. I thought it would be a Village of the Damned like plot, but I found it slightly more interesting than that. This was an interesting thriller worth a viewing but not worth adding to your collection. "It's much easier to be polite when clean." Grade: B- See more Read all reviews
These Are the Damned

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Movie Info

Synopsis An American man (Macdonald Carey) and an Englishwoman (Shirley Anne Field) discover genetically engineered children who can survive a nuclear war.
Director
Joseph Losey
Producer
Anthony Hinds
Screenwriter
Evan Jones
Production Co
Columbia Pictures Corporation, Hammer Film Productions Limited
Genre
Sci-Fi
Original Language
English
Release Date (DVD)
Apr 6, 2010
Runtime
1h 36m