2022 A month of Halloween movies -- October 6th

Village of the Damned (1960) [HBO Max]

Another one of those movies you would have thought I'd already seen, when in fact--no, this is the first time I've seen it.  The Scatterkat and I watched it; she got home from work right when the credits were starting, so we rewound it back to everyone in the poor doomed town of Midwich being knocked out by the cosmic whatsit.

Of course, it's one of those movies that's pretty much the defining work of its subgenre, so you feel like you've seen it even if you haven't.  It's the archetype of the modern Devil Child movie, setting the tone and tropes for actual Devil Child movies and television shows that would come along a decade-plus later; the subgenre became really popular in the late '60s/early '70s with Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby and The Omen.  All of which have Village of the Damned in their DNA.

An unfortunate upshot of being a trope-defining film is that trope-definers are always a little predictable through no fault of their own.  It's not a bad thing nor a mark of a bad movie; Village of the Damned is quite good, actually.  But because you've heard about it for so many years and/or so many other works have bitten off of it in the years since, you pretty much know what the beats and shocks and conclusion are all going to be, more or less.  Psycho, say, has the same problem, as does Halloween and any number of other really great films that have subsequently been paid the sincerest form of flattery, being completely ripped-off.

As I said, Village is a pretty good movie.  It's full of "That Guy" British actors and I think the Scatterkat and I may have been a little distracted trying to remember where we'd seen somebody before.  In one prominent, case, where we'd seen him before was one of the best Fawlty Towers episodes, but he'd been in a ton of other stuff as well.

After seeing a couple of mediocrities in this project, it was nice to see a very competently done movie.

We have a busy Saturday coming up.  I'm going to try to watch something in the morning if I get up in time, but there may be at least one missed day this month.  You'll just have to get over it.  What am I saying?  I'm the one who'll really need to get over it, neurotic bastard that I am.