No time for a proper review, here are some notes:
- Only a few years between these two movies, but what a difference! Two different worlds:
- Village of the Damned:
- genteel (George Sanders, for God's sake)
- bucolic (set in a picture perfect English village)
- male supremacist (face slapping)
- heteronormative (despite Sanderss's gay-osity)
- traditional gothic plot (the good guys triumph)
- a fabulous dress, with a bustle and a huge bow
- Children of the Damned:
- oppressive (strangely deserted London)
- sex is confused and dangerous
- the two main characters appear to be gay
- the first mother is a shrieking harridan, all the other mothers are weak or otherwise problematic
- loss of agency: the primary female character is most often an automaton
- inability to communicate: the primary child character speaks only twice, both times briefly
- random events are more important than character (the accident that resolves the conflict)
- the plot is gothic stood on its head (the monsters turn out to be the good guys and we turn out to be the monsters)
- weird plot hole: why did the children return to their embassies, only to kill and then go back to the church?
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