"These Are The Damned" is a very difficult film to watch. In some ways, it is fascinating...but the fascination is often lost because the plot is so unnecessarily complicated and confused. It's a shame, because if the film had cut out most of the first 30 minutes, it would have been a lot better.
The film begins with a plot that has NOTHING to do with the later portion of the movie. The American actor, Macdonald Carey, owns a boat and lands in London. There, he's beaten up by a gang led by the freaky Oliver Reed. I say freaky because there's a kinky undercurrent of incest between himself and his lovely sister--and yet this, like the Carey portion of the story, is never capitalized upon and the film is confused in its focus. Eventually, the sister and Carey run off and are pursued by Reed and his gang. But then, the film does a complete turnabout--as the pair are rescued by a group of radioactive mutant children living in a weird British government lab!!! Believe it or not, it's like two completely different films are just tossed together--and both major stories get short-changed in the process. I wanted to see more about Reed's kinky relationship or the new relationship between the sister and Carey--but what about the paranoid radioactive mutant story?!?! The bottom line is that the film has a lot of interesting portions but the whole is a mess. In addition, a few little things in the film are sloppy--such as the SUPER-annoying "Black Leather" song and the angle outside window at 25 minutes that is completely impossible and poorly integrated. An interesting failure.
The film begins with a plot that has NOTHING to do with the later portion of the movie. The American actor, Macdonald Carey, owns a boat and lands in London. There, he's beaten up by a gang led by the freaky Oliver Reed. I say freaky because there's a kinky undercurrent of incest between himself and his lovely sister--and yet this, like the Carey portion of the story, is never capitalized upon and the film is confused in its focus. Eventually, the sister and Carey run off and are pursued by Reed and his gang. But then, the film does a complete turnabout--as the pair are rescued by a group of radioactive mutant children living in a weird British government lab!!! Believe it or not, it's like two completely different films are just tossed together--and both major stories get short-changed in the process. I wanted to see more about Reed's kinky relationship or the new relationship between the sister and Carey--but what about the paranoid radioactive mutant story?!?! The bottom line is that the film has a lot of interesting portions but the whole is a mess. In addition, a few little things in the film are sloppy--such as the SUPER-annoying "Black Leather" song and the angle outside window at 25 minutes that is completely impossible and poorly integrated. An interesting failure.