Review of Village of the Damned (1995) by Filipeneto — 17 Dec 2018

Remakes made to make money quickly are a common thing in the film industry. To be honest, only a short time ago I knew that this movie was a remake. In fact, he became more famous than his predecessor, although the experts praised him and said that this film had no reason to exist beyond the profit he could raise. They may even be right, but this movie survived the test of time, and its predecessor did not.

Why did this happen? I think the weight of the director, John Carpenter, had a lot to do with it. Carpenter was able to create around him a legion of admirers, keeping alive his work. On the other hand, we still have Christopher Reeve, the eternal superman, in the lead role.

The script is the same as the original film: a group of children with similar characteristics grows in a secluded location after a bizarre incident where several women get pregnant without knowing how. Children quickly become the focus of bizarre accidents where adults self-mutilate or commit suicide for no apparent reason, as if deprived of their own will.

I recognize that this movie is not the best of Carpenter. It is far from that! But I can not throw it in the trash. Unlike some people, I felt that children were an intimidating presence, not so much for what they could do but for their lack of humanity and for the possibilities they had at hand. The film frightens us more by what makes us think than by what it shows us. However, the film ends up being lost, by embarking on easier and more predictable ways, with the action being more and more banal. Christopher Reeve stands out at this point, his good performance being an element that prevents the second half of the film from being deeply unpleasant.