In the sleepy little town of Midwich one easy going afternoon, every single person in town suddenly falls unconscious. The military is called in but there seems to be an invisible zone surrounding the town. Anyone entering it from above or on ground falls unconscious.
Several hours later everyone just suddenly wakes like nothing ever happened. But something did happen. Something made every woman in town pregnant. Naturally there’s outrage, scandal and suspicion. The fetus grow at an alarming rate and everyone woman gives birth on the same day. 12 babies are born and all the children have strange eyes, fingernails and hair. Their hair is all a platinum blonde. If the town was uneasy before things have just gotten worse.
Professor Gordon Zellaby (George Sanders) has been observing the children. His wife was one of the affected people and British intelligence informs Zellaby that his town wasn’t the only place in the world affected by the strange phenomenon. A small in the Soviet experienced the same thing as did a place in Australia but all the children died. There was also an event in the Arctic but all the children were killed when they were born because of the blond hair in a predominately black haired community.
The children age and develop at fast pace and they seem to stick together in a large group. The children also seem detached, unable to have normal human emotions. The town is scared of the children but do nothing.
Soon the children start exhibiting powerful telekinesis and telepathy. Anyone who crosses them suddenly ends up dead. Zellaby slowly realizes that the children are not from this Earth and he has to do something to stop them.
This is fantastic movie. Based on the novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham the film is fairly faithful adaptation. The movie was a huge hit when it was released and a weak sequel quickly followed, Children of the Damned. In the 1990s it got remade by John Carpenter but it’s a pretty pale imitation. The original is the best.
