Two science-fiction novels published in the middle of the 20th century left a mark on the cultural psyche of Britain and America that still looms large today. In the 1950s, John Wyndham’s The Midwich Cuckoos and Jack Finney’s The Body Snatchers were published three years and one continent apart, and although both works speak to the original imagination of two unrelated writers, the crossover fears underpinning their speculative fiction have put them in conversation. Even today, the imprint of their eerie, foundational “hivemind” sci-fi is clear.
The Midwich Cuckoos is best known by its first film adaptation, Wolf Rilla’s B-movie Village of the Damned, which hit theaters 65 years ago today. It’s set in a quaint English village, one of a few locations worldwide where, one morning, every resident falls unconscious. Although they soon wake up, they discover that every woman able to conceive has fallen pregnant, and they eventually all give birth on the same day. These children are creepily uniform: their hair is platinum blond, their eyes are intense, and they foster a telepathic bond. They also grow territorial, ganging up on perceived threats and using their telepathic abilities to trigger fatalities and suicides.
