Friday, June 20, 2025

These are the Damned Movie Review



Trailer here.

These are the Damned is a 1962 Sci-Fi/horror film directed by Joseph Losey and starring Macdonald Carey, Shirley Anne Field, Oliver Reed and Alexander Knox.

A man called Simon Wells(Carey) meets a young girl called Joan(Field). She leads him to a motorcycle gang, led by her brother, King(Reed). They beat him up. He is brought to a restaurant to recover. A man called Bernard(Knox) is working on experiments in the area. He has a lover called Freya(Viveca Lindfors) who wants to know what is working on. He won't tell her anything. Joan visits Simon and she tells him that her brother beats up anyone who shows interest in her. She jumps onto his boat. The gang are watching. Bernard meets with scientists and army personnel. There are children being kept in a secret facility. Bernard speaks to them. They want to leave.


Simon takes Joan ashore and they end up at Bernard's house. There is nobody there. They kiss. Freya also shows up at the house. King follows. He destroys a sculpture she has made. She is upset. The gang find Simon and Joan and they are after them. They end up at the facility and end up meeting the children. They tell Simon about their teachers.
 These children are not normal. They are fascinated by the warmth of Simon and Joan. The two talk to the children.  King is there too. He is scared by the children. A man in a radioactive suit arrives to see the children. King isn't feeling well. Bernard knows that the children have three people with them. He tells them that they will get sick if they stay. They decide to leave.


King, Joan and Simon decide to help the children escape. Bernard sends men to get them.
King knocks one out and shoots one. Simon gets the other one. Simon realises that the children are radioactive. He is disgusted by the experiment. Bernard and a military man called Captain Gregory try to stop them from leaving. Freya sees something happening and so does a local man called Sid(Kenneth Cope). Some of the children get recaptured. One of them goes with King, while Joan and Simon are caught but allowed to leave. Bernard tells Freya about the kids. Their parents were exposed to radiation and that is why the children are affected. He thinks that they will be able to survive a nuclear disaster. Bernard thinks Simon and Joan will die before long. King is killed as he tries to escape with the kid. Joan and Simon try to escape on the boat but a helicopter follows them and waits for them to die. Bernard kills Freya after she refuses to be a part of his plan. The film ends with the children back in captivity, shouting for help as the people on the beach enjoy their holidays. 


This was a good film. I liked the cast and the story was interesting too. It kind of reminds me of Village of the Damned, but the kids aren't evil in his one. I liked Oliver Reed in this. He plays a good villain. This is actually a Hammer film and it does have a good cast. I definitely recommend it and I will give it a 6/10.

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