These Are the Damned

[AndyC]

Just saw this early-60s British flick on TV. Wow. Doesn't start out particularly well, but when the sci-fi aspects of the plot take over, it's great. The ending, especially, is quite chilling.

Spoilers follow:

The whole idea of the imprisoned children, deprived of real human contact because they're deadly to anyone who goes near them, is freaky enough. But then you add the fact that the people who attempted to rescue them are all doomed to a horrible death. And then there is the deeply pessimistic cold war rationale for studying the kids. Mind you, immunity to radiation would still be a useful thing, but the thinking, at that time, was that it was the only hope for mankind.

Really impressive.