The renowned early 1960s British sci-fi classic VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED receives a Blu-ray facelift from the Warner Archive Collection, with its much-liked sequel being orphaned (for the time being) to the cries of many an online fanboy.

In VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED, the small English village of Midwich is subjected to a mass blackout where the entire population passes out for hours before regaining consciousness. The only result of the incident seems to be a rash of unexplained pregnancies which occur to the entire town's amazement. Twelve children are born after this incident — six blond-haired boys and six blond-haired girls, all rather Arian in appearance. One of the children, David (Martin Stephens, THE INNOCENTS) is the son of physicist Gordon Zellaby (George Sanders, THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY) and wife Anthea (Barbara Shelley, QUATERMASS AND THE PIT). David appears to be their leader, and once of school age, the children soon set themselves apart from the rest of the village. While a conference of authorities tries to theorize what makes these super-intelligent, emotionless children what they are, Zellaby agrees to let the children live in a separate cottage, with him taking on the responsibility of schooling them. But danger brews all around, and in morbid acts of self defense, the children are responsible for a rash of suicides and unaccountable deaths.

The British had been producing classy and intelligent science fiction films since the 1950s, namely Hammer's stabs at Nigel Kneale's Quatermass character and several others. But VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED was a product of major studio MGM who had their British unit make the film with a modest budget. Becoming one of the most popular movies of its type, it was tightly directed by German-born Wolf Rilla and cleverly adapted from John Wyndham's novel The Midwich Cuckoos by Rilla, producer Ronald Kinnoch (under his pen name George Barclay) and future Oscar winner Sterling Silliphant. But the talent in front of the cameras also greatly helped what made the film the classic that it is. The tense final confrontation between brave Zellaby (a wonderful performance by Sanders) and the children of the damned is one of the finest underplayed moments in horror/science fiction cinema. The telepathic children, with their glowing eyes and unpredictable behavior are highly memorable screen villains (especially Stephens, who re-dubbed his own high-pitched voice for an eerie effect) and have influenced numerous "killer kids" movies over the years. Hammer star Shelley is excellent as the mother who wants so desperately to share affection with her cold-as-ice offspring, and fine support is given by Michael Gwynn (REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN) as the military man who makes a startling discovery, and Laurence Naismith (DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER) as the local doctor who delivers the little devils, but you’ll recognize a good number of the other supporting players, including Peter Vaughan (SYMPTOMS) as a policeman and very young Denis Gilmore (PSYCHOMANIA) as a non-blonde village child. Rilla never directed a finer film, and its sometimes documentary style and effective black and white cinematography truly set a mood that's impossible to capture nowadays.

Warner Archive Collection delivers VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED on Blu-ray in a gorgeous 1080p HD rendering, presenting the film in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The transfer for this black and white gem is extremely sharp, with nary a blemish to be found. The Blu-ray's image provides excellent reproduction of blacks, whites and shades of gray, and detail and contrast are also strong throughout the widescreen presentation. Grain levels are also consistently healthy without ever being obtrusive. Audio is offered in an English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio mono track, with dialog being crisp and clear without any detectable distortions and Ron Goodwin’s excellent score comes through nicely. Optional English SDH subtitles are also provided. Since the respectable 1964 sequel CHILDREN OF THE DAMNED was paired with the original on DVD (as well as on laserdisc years before), you’re probably wondering (or complaining on a geeky horror movie message board) where that film is on the Blu-ray format. Perhaps the Warner Archive will release it on Blu themselves, or it might even get licensed out to a boutique distributor now that Warner is more susceptible to that.