Review of Village of the Damned (1995) by Melvin W — 10 Oct 2011

Mara Chaffee: Life is cruelty. We all feed on each other, exploit each other in some way to survive. .

"Beware the Children".

Village of the Damned is an interesting, if not totally satisfying, film. Carpenter remakes a 1960 film of the same name that I am not familiar with. I do have to say that for the most part I likes this movie. It has a strong first act that really got me into the movie. The movie tapers off a little as it goes, but I always remained interested, even with a lot of the ridiculousness that does ensue. .

The whole population of a small town blackout at precisely the same time, for the exact length of time. When everyone was woken up and things go back to normal, they start to notice that a lot of the women are pregnant. The women are talked into having their babies by a doctor who wants to do research on them. The kids are born and it doesn't take long for their parents and the rest of the townspeople to realize that these little white haired fuckers aren't like the average human.

The movie has some problems; a big one in Kirstie Alley, but only one really effected how much I liked the movie. That would be the pacing. The movie felt so rushed. Years would go by in seconds. The story didn't seem to really take hold of me as strong as I was expecting because the movie was in its final act before I really even noticed. .

I thought the movie was extremely cool, mostly because of Carpenter's score and his solid directing. I thought there were some weird decisions, but that didn't completely take away from my enjoyment of the film. It isn't among Carpenter's best work, but it is still a solid little horror-thriller.