Village of the Damned: Creepy Kids & the Cosy Catastrophe

As always there are spoilers ahead!

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In 1956 the film The Bad Seed was a big hit for Warner Bros featuring a blond-haired evil child.

One blond scary child sometimes isn't enough! Writer John Wyndham published The Midwich Cuckoos in 1957 which had already sold to MGM before he’d completed it. The film tells the story of a different kind of alien invasion. Midwich village is infested with pregnancies affecting the female population who all give birth to blonde haired and light eyed, rapidly growing, telepathic children (did I mention they were creepy?). Outsiders who will go to any length to keep their kind alive.

I have two absolutely amazing guests who can tease apart some of the history and themes of this wonderful sci-fi horror. 

Mark Bould is a professor of Film and Literature at the University of West England, Bristol. He has written/edited extensively about science fiction cinema.

Roger Luckhurst is a Professor at Birkbeck, University of London. He has written/edited numerous articles and books on cultural history and film.

 

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:38 John Wyndham, The Midwich Cuckoos and MGM’s British studios

04:22 Post War anxieties

07:10 Wyndham and pacifism

08:29 Feminism, forced birth and Wyndham’s women

11:16 The life of George Sanders: a fabulous cad

18:50 The Cosy Catastrophe

21:38 The premise: terrifying telepathic toddlers

27:20 The evil child and the concept of innocence

31:42 The legacy of the evil child in cinema

35:59 Telepathy

41:47 Class and post war social mobility

47:25 Legacy and the John Carpenter remake

51:29 Recommendations for the listener

 

The telepathic couple Mark mentions are most likely the Piddingtons.

When Mark says "Astounding" he is referring to the magazine Astounding Science Fiction where the editor was John W Campbell Jr.

NEXT EPISODE!

Next episode we will be talking about The Day the Earth Caught Fire from 1961.

You can rent the film on Apple or Amazon in the US or on Amazon or BFI Player in the UK. The Just Watch website is a good option to find where films are available in your region.