The Damned

The Damned (1962)

Children of Ice And Darkness! They Are the Lurking Unseen Evil You Dare Not Face Alone!

An American tourist and a troubled young woman are chased by her gang leader brother to a top secret British government facility that conducts experiments on children.

Date of release
1962-11-16
TMDB
6.3 / 10 (134)
Runtime
1h 36m
Genres
Horror, Science Fiction
Director
Joseph Losey

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Budget: £170K

The Damned is a 1962 British science-fiction horror film directed by Joseph Losey and produced by Anthony Hinds for Hammer Film Productions. It stars Macdonald Carey, Shirley Anne Field, Viveca Lindfors, Oliver Reed, and Alexander Knox. The screenplay by Evan Jones is based on H. L. Lawrence's 1960 novel The Children of Light. The plot is about a vacationing American (Carey) who stumbles across a mysterious group of children who reside in an underground compound in Dorset, that are monitored constantly by military scientists.

Production

Hammer Productions boss Anthony Hinds obtained the film rights to H. L. Lawrence's 1960 novel The Children of Light, wanting to create a movie similar to MGM's Village of the Damned, which had been a marked success.

Expatriate American director Joseph Losey was hesitant to accept a directorial assignment from Hammer, a studio “internationally associated with the horror genre and work of a deliberately provocative nature.” Losey had previously been attached to direct Hammer's X the Unknown (1956), but left during pre-production because actor Dean Jagger refused to work with him over political differences.

A script was originally written by Ben Barzman, Losey's frequent screenwriting collaborator, which was reasonably faithful to the original novel. Losey disliked it and had it completely rewritten by Evan Jones two weeks prior to filming. Jones would subsequently become a regular Losey collaborator.

Losey originally wanted Freya the sculptor to be killed by one of the helicopters but the studio insisted that Bernard kill her. The studio also wished to tone down the incestuous references between King and Joan.

Distributor Columbia Pictures requested an American lead actor to help the film's overseas prospects. Losey hired Macdonald Carey, who had previously starred in his 1950 film The Lawless. Losey also brought in actors Alexander Knox and Kenneth Cope, with whom he had previously worked. Knox, like Losey, was a Hollywood blacklistee and the two men were frequent collaborators.

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