Shelter in Place- But- THIS Place?! "Village of the Damned"- Tonight!

First- let me say that I hope you are all okay, and doing whatever you can to stay safe and be well. There has been confusion about what this week’s movie is- the reason being, for the safety of our crew and co-workers, our company has halted show production temporarily. Although we do shoot ahead of time, the post production of putting the show elements and movie together gets done closer to the air date- which is why “Curse of Frankenstein” has been delayed. Don’t worry- it will be on at a later date! So, tonight, MeTV presents an encore of a  fright feature that takes us on a trip to a small English town that experiences a strange and frightening phenomenon ( somewhat different from what we are experiencing now)- followed by even more astonishing developments- in a film that has many unsettling moments, thanks to a group of children with shocking mental powers who turn a quiet bucolic little burg into the “Village of the Damned”!

On a normal-seeming day, everyone within the city limits of Midwich suddenly falls unconscious- as does anyone who tries to enter the village. The military moves in, but is unable to escape the weird situation, with even a soldier in gas mask and containment suit falling into this odd sleep as he crosses the line. In about four hours- everyone awakens- with no apparent effects.

That changes within a mere two months- when all the women of child-bearing age in the village discover that- they are pregnant! This leads to suspicions and accusations among the townsfolk – until the strange nature of the pregnancies is discovered- with accelerated development of the fetuses, and all the women giving birth on the same day! The children born have an odd similarity, including white-blond hair and “unusual eyes”.

The children grow and develop at an amazing rate- and are revealed to have some kind of psychic bond- and almost a “hive” mentality. They tend to travel in a group- and seem very cold and frightening to everyone, even their parents. They begin to show signs of having mind control with the ability to make people do things against their will.

Professor Gordon Zellaby, whose wife Anthea was among the women who had one of these children, tries to find answers to this mystery- and is informed by British Intelligence that the same phenomenon has occurred in other nations around the world. Just in Midwich alone, there have been unexplained deaths- and the villagers are starting to think the strange children are responsible. Zellaby endeavors to become a teacher to the children (including his own son David) and possibly learn more about them- as there are more deaths- and anyone who crosses the offspring becomes an endangered species!

This 1960 movie, based on John Wyndham’s novel “The Midwich Cuckoos”, is truly frightening- and was so successful, it spawned a sequel. One of the most unnerving effects is the children’s eyes turning white when they use their mental powers. We’ll explain how that was done, as well as introducing you to the cast, which includes Barbara Shelly and George Sanders. We also have a song, and an interview with one of the men who put Svengoolie in the Dick Tracy comic strip- artist Joe Staton! We are hoping that Kerwyn will be able to appear with some helpful information regarding the current health crisis ( mseriously!)

“Village of the Damned” will be on MeTV tonight at 8 pm eastern/pacific, 7 central time- for information on where and when it airs where you are, please check your local listings ,or at www.metv.com . Fans continue to live-Tweet during the show on Twitter, using the hashtag #svengoolie - so, feel free to join in. Chicago area viewers can get a second look at the Hammer classic “Horror of Dracula”- back at the usual timeslot of  11 am on the U.

You can still vote in the Rondo awards for about 48 hours- vote for your favorites at www.rondoaward.com - the deadline is midnight Sunday night! I’ve been told after our mention of it on the show last week- the response was so great it crashed the site!

You can also visit our store for some Sven merchandise to brighten your life or someone else’s.

We’re working to try to keep you entertained - and we will endeavor to have shows for you every week during these unusual times. Join us on MeTV tonight- and remember we can all get through this together ( yes ,even by staying apart for now!)