Rent The Damned (1962)

Disturbing - The Damned review by sb

FILM & SHOCKTOBER Very strange and bleak Hammer sci-fi/horror movie. Set in and around Weymouth in Dorset we meet Simon (Carey) a middle aged American tourist who is lured by Joan (Field) into the clutches of a motorcycle gang led by her brother King ( a very sinister Oliver Reed) where he is beaten and robbed. She feels sorry for him and in a way to get away from King (it’s implied there is an unhealthy relationship there) she jumps onto his boat. The gang pursue them and on landing by some cliffs the pair discover some mysterious scientific base run by the militery. With King chasing them they discover a secret entrance in a cave and find a group of children who are being held captive but educated via TV screens by Bernard (Knox) . The children help the adults and they are joined by King but the children are all ice cold to the touch and and any interaction by the guards are conducted wearing radiation suits. The adults agree to let help the children escape but begin to fall sick as Knox knew they would….. Directed by Joseph Losey in exile from the Hollywood blacklist he brings his customary edgy remote icy touch which adds to the whole ‘60’s atomic paranoia but with an really strange almost surreal twist to it… It’s unusual for a Hammer film of the time to have an outside director and is a much darker bleaker affair than normal - very good indeed - 4/5