In a world gone mad, the mad shall prosper. And so it is in this hybrid sci-fi thriller that equates nuclear annihilation with Teddy Boy toughs as “senseless” violence proliferates like a Cold War arsenal. Hidden in an underground facility, a group of cold-blooded kids lives in isolation, captive to scientist Bernard (Alexander Knox) and his endgame experiment. Born of mothers accidentally exposed to radiation, these chilling children await that postapocalyptic day when the roentgen-reeking remainder shall inherit the earth. An American tourist (Macdonald Carey), a gang of rebellious punks headed by Oliver Reed, and an eccentric artist (Viveca Lindfors) come upon the secret wards. More calculating than a mainframe, brainy Bernard believes that nuclear war is inevitable, so he must protect his “damned” experiment at any cost. Losey rendered this hot topic in panoramic black and white, giving his atomic allegory a sweeping pessimism concerning the abuse of state power. And the charged children sequestered in their cavern? They are the start of a new Geiger counterculture.