I had never seen this classic horror (or is it science fiction?) film. My parents wouldn’t let me see it when it came out in 1960. Something somebody said recently made me want to try to watch it on my computer. That turned out to be harder than I expected, but eventually we managed it.
And it turned out to be two for the price of one: the original 1960 black-and-white British production starring George Sanders, and John Carpenter’s 1995 color remake starring Christopher Reeve. Both are based on The Midwich Cuckoos (1957), a novel by John Wyndham.
And both are quite good, too. You won’t get a lot of blood and guts thrust under your nose, and neither version tries to be “realistic” by depicting all the characters in the story as fools or degenerates, or both. The 1995 edition features truly gorgeous cinematography. The more subdued 1960 film is a little creepier. John Carpenter used the old screenplay for his model, and named it in the credits.
So what’s the story? For no reason that we can ever find out, everybody in the town of Midwich suddenly faints and is out for several hours before just as suddenly waking up again. A little later, it is discovered that practically all the women in the town are pregnant. This is awkward, as you can well imagine. The children who are born all have pale blond hair and freaky eyes, but are otherwise normal… not.
We soon learn that these children share a group mind which makes them more intelligent than adults and endows them with certain deadly powers. They are right scary little fiends. Think about it the next time you read a fantasy by some fat-head who thinks it would be cool if children had magical powers.
If I told you any more of the plot, I’d spoil the story for you. Both versions are excellent, and we enjoyed watching them on consecutive nights.
Unlike the news, the horror of a scary movie stops when the movie stops.