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The Damned

The Damned

Horror · Science Fiction · 1962

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.

Movie details

The Damned

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

1962 Horror · Science Fiction 1h 36m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.3 / 10

Community rating

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.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Damned?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Joseph Losey

Written by

Evan Jones

Macdonald Carey

Macdonald Carey

Simon Wells

Shirley Anne Field

Shirley Anne Field

Joan

Viveca Lindfors

Viveca Lindfors

Freya Neilson

Alexander Knox

Alexander Knox

Bernard

Oliver Reed

Oliver Reed

King

Walter Gotell

Walter Gotell

Major Holland

James Villiers

James Villiers

Captain Gregory

Court is in session

Put The Damned on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Arthouse Gremlin

“Its refusal to behave is the point.”

The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Oddness is not depth.”

A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.