In the decades following the Second World War, a fear of nuclear war and a potential nuclear apocalypse had a firm grip on the world. This is reflected in the art of the 1950s, 1960s, and beyond, sometimes heavily portrayed and sometimes subtly. Some of the most famous films associated with nuclear anxiety include well-known titles like 1954’s Godzilla or Stanley Kubrick’s satirical Dr. Strangelove, released in 1964. In 1962, Hammer Film Productions, the iconic British purveyors of horror, science fiction, and fantasy, released The Damned, a lesser-known piece of science fiction directed by Joseph Losey and inspired by the nuclear anxiety of the time.
The film’s title alone reveals little, but by the time the credits roll, the name of this science-fiction horror feels viciously appropriate. The Damned tells the story of Joan, a young woman desperate to escape her possessive and rage-filled brother, along with Simon, a rich American who wants to help her, and a mysterious scientist and the schoolchildren he works with at a military-run facility, children with skin as cold as the dead. By the end, audiences may be hard-pressed to decide to whom the film’s title refers.
The Steady Dread of ‘The Damned’

The substance of The Damned’s narrative may hold less horror now than it did in 1962, but the film’s enduring effectiveness lies in its thematic structure. The through line reveals itself in the film’s opening moments: a beautiful young English woman, Joan, catches the eye of an American tourist, Simon, who asks to accompany her before he is attacked and mugged by a street gang. The gang’s leader is a violent and controlling man named King, the older brother of Joan. This is their scheme: Joan lures in potential victims for King and his followers, whether she likes it or not, participating under constant threats of violence from her brother. What first appears ordinary and inviting, a pleasant stroll with a friendly local, is the front for something sinister, violent, and unsettling.
Two seemingly disparate plot lines unfold in the first half of The Damned, and it is this thematic thread that steadily pulls the stories together. Simon and Joan work to escape the threat of King and the other gang members, all while a scientist, Bernard, works with children at a mysterious nearby facility. “If I were to tell you even a little bit about what you call ‘my secrets,’” Bernard says, “I might be condemning you to death.” The truth of his work is unraveled much more slowly, but it mirrors the opening moments of the film in its tone and themes. Joan’s inviting gaze was the prelude to violence, and the seemingly peaceful and structured lives of these mysterious children hide something even more threatening, as Joan, Simon, and King discover as the stories converge.
The Most Important Character in ‘The Damned’

While The Damned was released in the throes of Atomic Age Paranoia, 1960s England was also plagued with a fear of rising crime, juvenile delinquency, and gang violence. The effect this had on literature is evident in Anthony Burgess’ classic novel, A Clockwork Orange, which was published the same year that The Damned was released, with Stanley Kubrick’s iconic adaptation coming ten years later. This societal fear is represented in The Damned by King and his gang, initially the antagonists of the film. King, played by actor Oliver Reed, undergoes a disquieting shift over the course of the story, and this is one of the most significant elements of the film.

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Prepare to be chilled.

When King first appears on the screen, a song featured throughout the film called “Black Leather Rock” accompanies him. “Smash, smash, smash…crash, crash, crash…kill, kill, kill,” the lyrics command. King struts through the streets, whistling the song’s tune, commanding his sister with a throng of his followers marching behind in loose formation. He is defined by his aggressive, angry certainty, along with the ease with which he threatens and commits acts of violence. His certainty slowly falls away as circumstances spiral further out of his control, his volatile rage coming to the forefront until even that must be stripped from him in the face of that which is beyond him. As the truth of the scientist’s work at the military facility is slowly revealed, its own front falling away, it becomes clear that somehow King and his gang are the lesser of the two evils at work in The Damned. It is here that we see King’s true significance: the threat of gang violence, perhaps a more grounded fear for 1960s audiences, crumples in the presence of the secrets uncovered in The Damned.
The unease of The Damned’s story builds slowly across its runtime and peaks in its final minutes. The unsettling nature of the film does not lie in shocking imagery or horrific violence but in its persistent dread and overwhelming sense of inevitability. The final moments play out, and it feels as if they couldn’t have happened any other way. It is certainly not a film without flaws, but for fans of classic science fiction, classic horror, or those who want to check out something unlike the films they’re used to, The Damned is an excellent place to turn your attention.
The Damned is currently streaming for free on Tubi in the U.S.

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The Damned

Release Date

November 16, 1962

Director

Joseph Losey

Cast

Macdonald Carey
, Shirley Anne Field
, Viveca Lindfors
, Alexander Knox
, Oliver Reed
, Walter Gotell
, James Villiers
, Tom Kempinski
, Kenneth Cope
, Brian Oulton
, Barbara Everest
, Allan McClelland
, James Maxwell
, Rachel Clay
, Caroline Sheldon
, Rebecca Dignam
, Siobhan Taylor
, Nicholas Clay
, Kit Williams
, Christopher Witty
, David Palmer
, John Thompson
, Fiona Duncan
, León García
, Victor Gorf

Runtime

87 minutes

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