The Damned (1962 film)
A British sci-fi horror about radioactive children bred for a post-nuclear world.
The Damned (released in the United States as These Are the Damned) is a 1963 British science-fiction horror film directed by Joseph Losey and produced by Anthony Hinds for Hammer Film Productions. The screenplay, written by Evan Jones, adapts H. L. Lawrence's 1960 novel *The Children of Light*. The story centers on an American tourist on vacation who discovers a group of children held in an underground bunker in Dorset, where they are kept under constant surveillance by military scientists. The British Film Institute has called it "among Hammer's finest and most haunting productions."
The plot follows Simon Wells, a middle-aged American on a boating holiday off England's south coast. Recently divorced and having left his job as an insurance executive, he meets 20-year-old Joan in Weymouth. She lures him into a mugging carried out by her brother King and his motorbike gang. The next day, Joan joins Simon on his boat, defying King's attempts to keep her from leaving. Simon is willing to forgive the attack; Joan implies it was inevitable after he tried to pick her up in a bar, and she describes the abuse she suffers from King whenever men show interest. Simon urges her to run away with him, but she insists on returning to shore. A member of King's gang observes them on the water.
Meanwhile, nine children, all aged 11, live in caves along the nearby coast. Their skin is cold to the touch. They appear healthy, well-dressed, and intelligent but know little about the outside world. Their home is under continuous video surveillance, and they are educated via closed-circuit television by Bernard, who deflects their questions about their purpose and isolation with promises of future answers. Men in radiation protection suits visit the children regularly.
That night, Joan and Simon meet at a cliff-top house and have sex. King's gang surrounds the house, but the couple escape to a nearby military base. Pursued by King, they descend the cliff to the beach and find a network of caves leading to an underground bunker attached to the base, where they meet the children. Bernard is forced to keep the children under watch but allows them one chamber without cameras. The children are unaware that their "secret hideout" is known to their captors, and they keep mementos of people they believe are their parents there.
Quick Facts
- Director
- Joseph Losey
- Producer
- Anthony Hinds
- Screenplay
- Evan Jones
- Based On
- The Children of Light / (1960 novel) · H.L. Lawrence
- Starring
- Macdonald Carey / Shirley Anne Field / Viveca Lindfors / Oliver Reed / Alexander Knox
- Music
- James Bernard
- Cinematography
- Arthur Grant
- Editing
- Reginald Mills
- Studio
- Hammer Film Productions
- Distributor
- Columbia Pictures
- Released
- 16 November 1962 · Australia · 1963 · 05 · 19 · UK
- Runtime
- 95 minutes (uncut) / 87 minutes (UK) / 77 minutes (US)
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The Damned was directed by Joseph Losey, an expatriate American who had been blacklisted in Hollywood. Losey was initially hesitant to work with Hammer, a studio known for horror and provocative material, but accepted after his film The Criminal (1960) was a box office failure. The script was originally written by Ben Barzman but was completely rewritten by Evan Jones two weeks before filming. Losey and producer Anthony Hinds clashed over the film's bleak, cerebral tone, leading to the runtime being cut from 95 to 87 minutes. The film was shot in May–June 1961 at Hammer's Bray Studios and on location around Weymouth, the Isle of Portland, and Chesil Beach. The sculptures featured were by British artist Elisabeth Frink, who coached actress Viveca Lindfors on sculpting techniques.
Reader's Guide
The Damned is notable as a departure from Hammer's typical horror fare, blending science fiction with a stark warning about nuclear war. Film historians James Palmer and Michael Riley call it 'an effective polemic against the horrors of nuclear warfare.' Critic Dan Callahan places it only incidentally in the sci-fi genre, seeing it as 'a sincere and outraged portrait of a world on the verge of apocalypse.' The film was not released in Britain until May 1963, where it received positive reviews from critics. In the United States, it was released in 1965 as These Are the Damned, cut to 77 minutes. Losey's original 95-minute cut was later restored and released on Blu-Ray. The British Film Institute praised it as 'among Hammer's finest and most haunting productions,' and it has been called 'the highpoint of the first wave of the British postwar Science Fiction films.'
Did You Know?
- Director Joseph Losey originally wanted the title The Brink, but it was changed to The Damned to link it to Village of the Damned.
- The sculptures in the film were created by British artist Elisabeth Frink, who was on location during shooting.
- The film went over budget by £25,000.
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