The other day I had the opportunity to watch Village of the Damned, and the sequel Children of the Damned, for the first time.

Both were very interesting. I prefered the original to the sequel. The original premise is that there is some "peculiar event" that puts the inhabitants of a particular area into a state of syspended animation where
they all appear dead. Anyone who enters the area after the initial event
is also affected.

Once everyone comes to, they realize that time continued to move on without them. They also realize that many of the fertile women of the village have become pregnant, and that this single English village is not the only
village in the world where a similar event happened at the same time.

The children grow quickly and appear to be mentally gifted well beyond
their years. They also start showing signs of additional powers that they
use maliciously, threatening their fellow villagers.

I won't give up how it ends, but it is a good sci-fi/suspense flick.

The sequel starts off with individual children in different countries who,
like the kids in the original movie, are gifted beyond their years. The UN gets involved and initially tries to unite the children. However, like in
the original movie, they too are soon identified as being a potential
threat that must be dealt with.

The sequel was also suspenseful, but I didn't think it was as good as the first. Although it was sci-fi, it seemed to spend more effort on the message... that humans don't react well when exposed to people who are different.

I also could not get over the fact that, although this is a sequel and
although the events took place after the events in the first, that no one
in the second seemed to be familar with said events in the first. They did
try to keep it hush-hush from the general public in the first movie, but
the military in at least two of the involved countries, and at least some
in the science community, were certainly aware.

Waiting for someone to speak up and say "hey, remember when..." and then
using that knowledge to apply to the current situation may have kept me from enjoying the sequel as much.

Mike


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Hello Mike Powell!

** On Monday 27.11.23 - 11:37, Mike Powell wrote to ALL:

The other day I had the opportunity to watch Village of
the Damned, and the sequel Children of the Damned, for the
first time.

Based on a book, The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham.

I won't give up how it ends, but it is a good sci-fi/suspense flick.

Some people die in the end. ;)

...they too are soon identified as being a
potential threat that must be dealt with.

The sequel was also suspenseful, but I didn't think it was
as good as the first. Although it was sci-fi, it seemed
to spend more effort on the message... that humans don't
react well when exposed to people who are different.

Dialog (in the book) between the children and the professor is
the highlight of the story. It is a kind of debate about
dealing with different people. I seem to recall that the 1995
version with Christopher Reeve does a good take on that dialog
scene. The giveaway is that the children become determined to
overtake the humans and say so. They have no interest to live
in harmony. So.. they are indeed a threat.

I also could not get over the fact that, although this is
a sequel and although the events took place after the
events in the first, that no one in the second seemed to
be familar with said events in the first.

Well.. it *is* just a movie and they probably thought that was
one way to build suspense.

Waiting for someone to speak up and say "hey, remember
when..." and then using that knowledge to apply to the
current situation may have kept me from enjoying the
sequel as much.

Yep. As a viewer, you don't know what they know or not, and
wonder why they are pretending as if they don't remember the
world-wide "invasion" of the cuckoos.
--
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Dialog (in the book) between the children and the professor is
the highlight of the story. It is a kind of debate about
dealing with different people. I seem to recall that the 1995
version with Christopher Reeve does a good take on that dialog
scene. The giveaway is that the children become determined to
overtake the humans and say so. They have no interest to live
in harmony. So.. they are indeed a threat.

There is at least some hint to that in both movies, with the "professor" in both movies being convinced that he can still work with them even after his partner (in the second movie) has given up on them.

Mike


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Hello Mike Powell!

** On Tuesday 28.11.23 - 09:20, Mike Powell wrote to AUGUST ABOLINS:

...The giveaway is that the children become determined to
overtake the humans and say so. They have no interest to
live in harmony. So.. they are indeed a threat.

There is at least some hint to that in both movies, with
the "professor" in both movies being convinced that he can
still work with them even after his partner (in the second
movie) has given up on them.

I really enjoyed the book, way back when. It was fun to see how
the story was envisioned to translate to the screen, but I
remember how satisfying the book was as a sci-fi, horror,
social commentary.

Perhaps the author was exploring what outcomes could evolve if
the tables were turned on who or what was at the top of the
food chain, so to speak. In the story, humans are clearly
demonstrating their inferiority to the growing children and
their abilities. Humans are the blight and the inconvenience
that need to be removed so that a more powerful version can
take over. As humans, he tend to destroy anything that is
considered an invader or a disease. So, why can't the children
do that so that they can preserve themselves?
--
../|ug

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take over. As humans, he tend to destroy anything that is
considered an invader or a disease. So, why can't the children
do that so that they can preserve themselves?

Indeed.


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