Village of the Damned / Children of the Damned (1960)
Starring: George Sanders, Barbara Shelley Director: Wolf Rilla
Encoding: Region 1
(U.S. and Canada only) Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Widescreen
Movie:
Disc:
If
you haven't seen these two 1960s sci-fi horror movies yet, then the chances
are you probably know the storyline (children with supernatural telepathic
powers) from either the 1995 inferior remake by John Carpenter - also titled
Village of the Damned - or a spoof on
The Simpsons.
THE DISCS: This is how you do it: two movies on one single disc for
the price of one - plus extras! So what if the one movie is a near classic (Village
of the Damned, 1960) and the other its somewhat dreary sequel (Children
of the Damned, 1964) - and that they're both in Black & White? The point
is that the world would be a better place (sort of) if all movies got the
treatment these two movies got. (And it isn't even one of those dreaded
double-sided discs one is always so afraid of smudging when handling them.)
Okay. the extras are a bit on the minimal side: audio commentaries by a
knowledgeable film historian and a screenwriter of the second movie plus
trailers, but they're better than a lot of other discs out there. Also, the
image - especially for such old movies - is amazingly crisp. Sound is decent
too for movies this old.
WORTH IT? Good disc, decent price. However, be forewarned: if you've
seen these movies as a kid and remember being scared by them, the truth is
that they're simply just not that scary anymore by modern standards.
RECOMMENDATION: Check it out if older SF is your bag.
If
you haven't seen these two 1960s sci-fi horror movies yet, then the chances
are you probably know the storyline (children with supernatural telepathic
powers) from either the 1995 inferior remake by John Carpenter - also titled
