The Damned(1962)
1962 · Joseph Losey · 96 min
An American tourist and a troubled young woman are chased by her gang leader brother to a top secret British government facility that conducts experiments on children.
Horror · Science Fiction
6.3131 votes
TMDB score
3/5
Intensity
1/5
Gore
4/5
Stays with you
How The Damned scares
It opens like a gritty crime story about a gang of young toughs before slowly shifting into something colder and stranger involving a secret government project. The pace is unhurried and moody, more interested in dread and unease than shocks, building toward a quietly bleak, unsettling finish rather than a scary climax. There's little violence shown on screen, but the ideas underneath it, about control, fear, and what's done to the innocent, are what stick with you. This one is for patient viewers who like their horror thoughtful, sad, and slow rather than jumpy or gory.
On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, The Damned rates psychological 4/5, visceral 2/5, gore 1/5, lingering effect 4/5, and overall intensity 3/5.
- Psychological: 4 of 5
- Visceral: 2 of 5
- Gore: 1 of 5
- Lingering: 4 of 5
- Intensity: 3 of 5
Slow burn vs Jump scares: 8 of 100 — leans Slow burn
Supernatural vs Real-world: 80 of 100 — leans Real-world
Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 70 of 100 — leans Disturbing
Intensity over runtime
Shape only — no eventsReveal pacing shapeHide pacing shapeHidden by default — shows where the tension peaks and lets up.
A slow, moody build with scattered bursts of unease that gradually tighten into a bleak, unsettling final stretch.
Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 3, 4.
How scary is The Damned?
On The Horror Database's 0–5 intensity scale, The Damned rates 3/5 — solidly scary, building its fear through slow-burn dread rather than shocks. The fear is mostly in your head — it unsettles far more than it assaults. Expect it to be restrained with gore and genuinely disturbing. Expect it to stay with you for days.
Watched it? Sign in to confirm whether this profile fits.
