History Film / TheseAreTheDamned

While on a boating holiday in [[UsefulNotes/TheWestCountry Dorset]], American tourist Simon Wells (Macdonald Carey) tries to pick up local girl Joan (Shirley Anne Field), only to get robbed and beaten up by her brother King (Creator/OliverReed) and his gang of Teddy boys. He gets comforted by Swedish sculptor Freya Neilson (Viveca Lindfors) and her lover Bernard (Alexander Knox), a scientist who is involved in a top secret project involving nine children kept in isolation in an underground facility on a well-guarded military base. Later Joan comes to Simon for help in escaping her overly-controlling brother. While fleeing from King, Simon and Joan enter the base and inadvertently stumble into the facility, endangering all their lives.

''These Are the Damned'' (UK title: ''The Damned'') is a 1963 British SciFiHorror movie directed by Joseph Losey, [[TheFilmOfTheBook based on]] H.L. Lawrence's 1960 novel ''The Children of Light''.

''These Are The Damned'' (British title: ''The Damned'') is a 1963 ScienceFiction Film/HammerHorror based on H.L. Lawrence's 1960 novel ''The Children of Light''.

While on a boating holiday in England, American tourist Simon Wells (Macdonald Carey) tries to pick up local girl Joan, only to get robbed and beaten up by her brother King (Creator/OliverReed) and his gang of Teddy boys. He gets comforted by Swedish sculptor Freya Neilson and her lover Bernard (Alexander Knox), a scientist who is involved in top secret work involving nine children kept in isolation in an underground facility on a well-guarded military base. Later Joan comes to Simon for help in escaping her overly-controlling brother. While fleeing from King, Simon and Joan enter the base and inadvertently stumble into the facility, endangering all their lives.

* BecauseISaidSo: Bernard fobs off questions from the children by saying that everything will be explained at the proper time. This works (somewhat) until their carefully structured world is disrupted by the arrival of 'Big People' from the outside.

* {{Mutants}}: The nine children being kept in a secret underground bunker by the British government have skin that's cold to the touch, are immune to radiation yet contaminate any living thing that comes into contact with them. They were created in a freak radiation accident, and are being studied in the hope of creating more such children who can continue the human race if nuclear war breaks out.

* BlackHelicopter: Military helicopters are shown closely following King's car and Simon's boat, [[spoiler:waiting for the occupants to die of radiation poisoning.]]

* CagedBirdMetaphor: Lampshaded when Freya gives Bernard a bird sculpture as a gift. At the end of the movie, [[spoiler:Bernard regrets that the children now know they are prisoners and it will affect them accordingly.]]
* ChildrenAreInnocent: Played for horror [[spoiler:as the children have no idea they are a WalkingWasteland that will kill any living creature they come into contact with.]]
* CoversAlwaysLie: The children don't have the MonochromaticEyes shown on the poster, and are hardly a 'lurking unseen evil!' [[spoiler:Though their radiation certainly is.]]
* {{Creepy Child}}ren: Inverted--the fact that the children appear normal, but are gradually shown not to be, is what's creepy.

* DiegeticSwitch: The song ''Black Leather Rock'' is used to introduce King's gang, who then start whistling the song after the music ends.

* FirstTimeInTheSun: After they escape the children stare in amazement at the sun they've never seen. [[spoiler:Until the soldiers drag them screaming back to their bunker.]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}

* HollywoodMidLifeCrisis: Implied with Simon--a middle-aged, recently divorced insurance executive who's quit his job to go on a boating holiday, and [[OnTheRebound quickly falls]] for a younger and disreputable woman.

** After the 'Black Death' guards have been overpowered, Simon says he can now free the children. [[spoiler:Then he realises the Geiger counter he took off Major Holland starts clicking the closer it gets to the children.]]
** Henry escapes in King's car, and Bernard lets Simon and Joan leave on their boat even after what they've seen. [[spoiler:However he knows they're dying, and he's sent the helicopters after them to retrieve Henry and make sure there's no survivors.]]

** Implied with King's behaviour towards his sister. Joan calls him out on the fact that [[VirginShaming he's never had a girl of his own]], and [[MySisterIsOffLimits he doesn't want her to be with any other man]], not even members of his own gang.

* InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves: Bernard thinks that nuclear war is inevitable due to the violent nature of Man, making his actions a NecessaryEvil.

* KnowWhenToFoldEm: When King enters the hideout, he and Simon grab clubs and face off...then throw them aside, realising they have other things to worry about.

* NoOneCouldHaveSurvivedThat: The soldiers think Joan and Simon died when they fell off the cliff into the sea, but they (and [[TheDeterminator Kelly who's crazy enough to follow them down the cliff in the dark]]) are rescued by the children. However Bernard questions Freya the next day, and realising King is still out there has his men continue the search.

* PerpSweating: Major Holland tries this on a Teddy Boy (including the requisite lamps shining in face) but he's not impressed. Although they hold him for hours of questioning, Holland lets the boy go on realising he's hasn't seen anything.
* POVCam: One is shown moving through the children's bunker before the RevealShot of [[spoiler:Major Holland wearing a HazmatSuit.]]
* PsychopathicManchild: King. One moment he's smashing up Freya's sculpture in a rage, then wrestling her towards the cliff edge...then [[MoodWhiplash he stops and breaks down crying]].

* SoylentSoy: A boy brings their guests some 'lunch' which is implied to be this.
-->"It has all the vitamins and minerals. We make it ourselves in a lab."

* SwissCheeseSecurity: Averted; the Edgecliff Establishment is surrounded by an alarmed fence that activates the moment Joan and Simon touch it, with soldiers and guard dogs responding the moment the protagonists break in. The only reason they didn't find the intruders earlier is not due to Major Holland, but because Bernard refused to allow cameras in the children's hideout.

* ThermalDissonance: When Victoria takes Joan by the hand, Joan exclaims that her hand is "cold as ice", while Victoria exclaims, "They're warm!" Joan notes that Victoria's hand [[UncannyValley doesn't get any warmer even when she's holding it.]]

* UndeadChild: When King touches the skin of a child and finds out how cold it is, he starts shouting in panic: [[ChillOfUndeath "He's dead! He's dead I tell you!"]]

-->'''Freya:''' ''What Earth'', Bernard? What Earth will you leave them? [[LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair After all that Man has made, and still has to make!]] ''(crying)'' Is this the extent of your dream? To set nine ice-cold children free, in the ashes of the universe?
* YouKnowTooMuch: [[spoiler:Simon realises they've seen too much in the bunker, and is surprised when Bernard tells them they can leave, but Bernard explains to Freya that they are already dying, and afterwards their boat will be sunk to destroy the evidence. He then points out that Freya too has seen too much, but his vision of the future is so abhorrent she chooses death rather than join his project. Bernard then shoots her, while King dies when his car drives off a bridge while he's trying to evade a roadblock.]]

* HollywoodMidLifeCrisis: Implied with Simon--a middle-aged, recently divorced insurance executive who's quit his job to go on a boating holiday, and [[OnTheRebound quickly falls]] for a woman who is a lot younger than him and rather dangerous.

* HollywoodMidLifeCrisis: Implied with Simon--a middle-aged, recently divorced insurance executive who's quit his job to go on a boating holiday, and [[OnTheRebound quickly falls]] for a woman who is much younger and rather dangerous.

* HollywoodMidLifeCrisis: Implied with Simon--a middle-aged, recently divorced insurance executive who's quit his job to go on a boating holiday, and [[OnTheRebound quickly falls for a much younger woman]].

A 1963 ScienceFiction Film/HammerHorror based on H.L. Lawrence's 1960 novel ''The Children of Light''.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: As Martok points out, Klingons don't embrace other cultures--they conquer them. So no matter how archaic and xenophobic Sirella is, Jadzia is going to have to play by her rules to enter her House.

-->'''Bernard:''' My children are the buried seeds of life. When that time comes, the thing itself will open up the door, and my children will go out to inherit the Earth.

While on a boating holiday in England, American tourist Simon Wells (Macdonald Carey) tries to pick up local girl Joan, only to get robbed and beaten up by her brother King (Creator/OliverReed) and his gang of Teddy boys. He gets comforted by sculptor Freya Neilson and her lover Bernard (Alexander Knox), who is involved in top secret work involving nine children kept in isolation in an underground facility on a well-guarded military base. Later Joan comes to Simon for help in escaping her overly-controlling brother. While fleeing from King, Simon and Joan enter the base and inadvertently stumble into the facility, endangering all their lives.

** One of the nine children asks if it's true that brothers and sisters can't marry. Bernard assures them that none of them are related, but seeing as nine children are not enough for an AdamAndEvePlot...

* HollywoodScience: [[spoiler:Nine children aren't enough for an AdamAndEvePlot. However it turns out they've been created by a freak radioactive accident which the government have been unable to recreate.]]

* IncestSubtext: Implied with King's behaviour towards his sister. Joan calls him out on the fact that [[VirginShaming he's never had a girl of his own]], and [[MySisterIsOffLimits he doesn't want her to be with any other man]], not even members of his own gang.

* YouKnowTooMuch: [[spoiler:Simon realises they've seen too much in the bunker, and is surprised when Bernard tells them they can leave, but Bernard explains to Freya that they are already dying, and afterwards their boat will be sunk to destroy the evidence. He then points out that Freya too has seen too much, but his vision of the future is so abhorrent she chooses death rather than join him in raising the children. Bernard then shoots her, while King dies when his car drives off a bridge while he's trying to evade a roadblock.]]

* UndeadChild: When King touches the skin of a child and finds out how cold it is, he starts shouting in panic: "He's dead! He's dead I tell you!"

* HollywoodMidLifeCrisis: Implied with Simon--a middle-aged, recently divorced insurance executive who's quit his job to go on a boating holiday, and quickly falls for a much younger woman.

** The children fear the 'Black Death' that comes down the elevator. [[spoiler:They turn out to be soldiers wearing black HazmatSuits.]]

* IdTellYouButThenIdHaveToKillYou: Freya isn't happy that Bernard refuses to talk about his work, but he warns her that his secrets could condemn her to death. He is ''not'' exaggerating.

** The children mention a rabbit that found it's way into their hideout, but got sick and its hair fell out.

* DiegeticSwitch: The song ''Black Leather Rock'' is used to introduce King's gang, who then are heard whistling the song after the music ends.

-->''Bernard:''' My children are the buried seeds of life. When that time comes, the thing itself will open up the door, and my children will go out to inherit the Earth.

* CoversAlwaysLie: The children don't have the MonochromaticEyes shown on the poster, and are [[ChildrenAreInnocent hardly a 'lurking unseen evil!']]. [[spoiler:Though that might be referring the radiation they give off.]]

* CreepyChildren: Inverted--the fact that the children appear normal, but are gradually shown not to be, is what's creepy.

* IncestSubtext: Implied with King's behaviour towards his sister. Joan calls him out on the fact that [[ARealManIsNotAVirgin he's never had a girl of his own]], and [[MySisterIsOffLimits he doesn't want her to be with any other man]], not even members of his own gang.

* SinisterWhistling: King's gang whistle the tune to "Black Leather Rock" when going to mug Simon, and later for signalling while they're hunting Simon and Joan in the graveyard.