Undescribable Perfection

To me, this movie is perfection.

Absolutely the worst movie.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Convinced there are more children out in the world, a UN study finds the other remaining children and brings them to a secure church in London for study, only for the continued misuse of their powers to force the world to rid themselves of the children.This one turned out to be quite enjoyable if only slightly flawed overall here. What really stands out here is the film's rather enjoyable and exciting action scenes that are wisely kept to a few needed spurts here rather than placed throughout the film as a whole. The race around downtown London and on through the different back-alleys and side-streets looking for the children while she's in turn followed by the agents that leads into their church hideout makes for a fine time, as does the different attempts to barnstorm the church and try to appeal to them, which is quite a fine series of actions here with the attempts broken up by having the children forcibly bringing the intruders to harm themselves, stopping them with the implementation of a loud, boisterous weapon and finally by talking in vague threats about what's going to happen to intruders in the future. The finale attempt to see what to do with them makes for quite a fun time here with this one really getting the action out here in regards to the military utilizing their weaponry here in grand order and launching a full-scale attack against them in a flurry of explosions, shelling and gunfire that culminates in the deadly bombing that brings the church down in quite a spectacular manner here for a thrilling finale and one of the films' best scenes overall. This, though, is really all that really works here as this one does have a few small flaws with it. Much like the original, this one seems quite uncomfortable with blatantly exclaiming how the children came about, as this one provides no explanation whatsoever for what happened to bring these children along, why those events were completely ignored after what happened previously since this one is decidedly concerned with continuity as this manages to take place in that same universe quite distinctly, so being able to skirt around the issue as clumsily as done so here is a big distraction. As well, the big issue of how the different nationalities are represented here seems to contradict the first one where whole villages were targeted so this one-from-around- the-world makes no sense. Likewise, the finale here with the continuous arguing about the children's importance in helping the nations of the world destroy each other is never really tied into this one or why it should mean anything other than being completely ignored by everyone which in turn forces the children into action every time out, and to continually force the issue each encounter makes them simply asking for their consequences more than anything else. This here is really the main thing hold this one down as it is.Today's Rating/PG: Violence and violent acts against children.

Scientists discover that there are six children who each have an enormous intelligence. The children are flown to London to be studied, but they each escape their embassy and gather in a church.While this sequel will never have the sort of cult following the original has gained, it is not bad in its own right. What it does is create a story that spans nations, making a not so subtle argument about the advantages of working together rather than being at odds with one another. Coming out in 1964, this was no doubt a jab at the Cold War.There is also the theme of self-preservation. One character remarks that if the children are allowed to grow up and have children of their own, they would some day inherit the earth. This would be an affront to humanity. Or at least humanity as we know it... evolution, which may be great on the whole, looks terrifying to those who are left behind.

A sequel to the creepy Village of the Damned (1960), Children of the Damned fumbles some key points and what works is just rehashed from the original. Of course, George Sanders is not back. The eerie children are back, this time from several different countries, but they're missing the trademark light hair. The sequel tries to provide more of an explanation of what the children are- not alien hybrids, it turns out, but humans from a million years in the future. That was something I didn't really want to hear- it contradicts the original, which kept the children's origins unknown but with strong hints of extraterrestrial influence.Minus the more conclusive explanation of the children, this movie is not all that different from the original. Once again, we have the children killing would-be attackers with their mind powers; once again, we have the humans debating whether the children should be killed, with one suggesting they can be of use to the human race and should be spared. In the end, troops seem to explode the church the children are staying at- but the original had established troops are no threat to these children. The children in this movie seem to want to be destroyed, but why? Because the makers of the film couldn't think of another way to end it? In the end, this movie is unsatisfying and pointless.

'Village Of The Damned' ( 1960 ) ended with the Midwich children blown sky-high by a bomb in a briefcase. Four years later, 'Children Of The Damned' appeared. As John Wyndham had never written a follow-up novel, it was left to John Briley ( later to write 'Gandhi' ) to concoct an original work. Psychologists Colonel Tom Llewelyn ( Ian Hendry ) and Dr.David Neville ( Alan Badel ) are investigating the backgrounds of a group of children from different countries, all of whom possess incredibly high levels of intelligence. The mother ( Sheila Allen ) of one tells them she was a virgin when her son came into the world. When she bawls him out, he forces her to walk into the path of a lorry.The children escape from custody, taking refuge in a derelict church in London. Attempts to force them out meet with little success - the children use their powers on the adults each time. Finally, the army is brought in...Not as good as 'Village' but nevertheless a solid British sci-fi film. Strangely, the first film's events are not mentioned. The Midwich children had blonde hair, these are dark. Their eyes still turn white whenever they use their powers though. The Midwich kids were believed to be aliens - no-one in 'Children' considers this possibility. Instead they are said to be the next stage in human evolution. Not evil as such, they only kill when threatened. Exactly what they are doing on Earth is never revealed. Asked to explain themselves, one says enigmatically: "To be destroyed!". How did they manage to build a solar-powered machine that kills by amplifying the sound of the church organ? A difference of opinion arises between the Hendry and Badel characters. Llewelyn thinks the children should be allowed to live, Neville believes they pose a threat to Mankind and need to be destroyed. Once again Ron Goodwin's music is wonderful ( particularly effective is his use of an electric organ whenever the children use their powers ). The director, Anton M.Leader, later worked on American shows such as 'Get Smart!' and 'Lost In Space'. He does a good job overall, building suspense to a shattering climax as the army accidentally destroy the church ( and killing the kids in the process ). No further films in the series appeared. Some mistakenly regard Joseph Losey's 'These Are The Damned'( 1963 ) as part of it, but apart from the idea of deadly children ( radioactive, not super-intelligent ) they have nothing in common.