Le Village des damnés

I saw "Village of the Damned" in the theater (Fresh Meadows, NY) and several times since. It's an okay movie. I'm a big fan of most of the films of John Carpenter. This is not one of his best movies but it's not one of his worst either. It's a watchable movie. It has more than a couple worthwhile moments. It often feels like a weak Stephen King movie. The cast of B-listers do a nice job. John Carpenter makes this one worth a watch. In lesser hands it probably wouldn't be worth the trouble.

Although this remake of the 1960 British horror classic doesn't quite look and feel its $22 million budget and also is somewhat bumpily edited, John Carpenter catches the essence of the story and transfers the eerie premise effectively to the screen thanks to fine casting and some well executed decisive segments. Christopher Reeve and Kirstie Alley play respectively the town doctor and the government researcher who realize a little too well what really happened to the small coastal town of Midwich, California when a strange "blackout" left the entire population temporarily unconscious and then ten random women pregnant with what turns out to be overly polite, bright and self-sufficient children. For a 1990s horror film, Village of the Damned is not particularly graphic; instead Carpenter creates real, timeless chills by putting the fascinating thematic concept from John Wyndham's novel to good use. The film's sociological and psychological aspects transcend the largely formulaic horror universe they are born out of. And the delightful performances by the children, particularly little Thomas Dekker as David, coupled with Carpenter's evocative music make this an effective chiller. It was Reeve's last performance before his accident.

This movie, which holds its own, is a remake of the 1960 film classic, which in turn was based on the book "The Midwich Cuckoos". This John Carpenterized version is a tad more gory and more colorful than the 1960 version.

The small town of Midwich one-day falls inexplicably asleep. Many accidents occur due to sudden narcolepsy, which is exaggerated in John Carpenter style. The result is that several of the village females including a virgin are in a motherly way. They all have their bouncing white hair babies the same day and as with the cuckoo eggs, they are too in love to notice the little quirks about having to control or mentally punish everyone. Compound this by other villages that fall to the same fate and you have an epidemic that threatens to wipe out the human race.

What action can be taken?

Is it too late?

If he/she were your child, what would you do?

John Carpenter, a respected director among the horror genre enthusiasts, gives us a remake of the classic 60's sci-fi /horror movie. Many people consider it the weakest Carpenter movie, but now, almost 10 years later, it's easy to notice why this movie was considered a failure in it's time, and certainly it's easier to appreciate it for what it is: an old school horror movie.

A year before Scream gave new life to the genre, this movie told the story of a small village lost in the rural areas of the U.S. where something strange happened one afternoon when the entire town fell unconscious. By strange circumstances 10 women got pregnant that day, but only 9 children survived. The remaining children look all the same and behave in strange ways, creating horror in town. All this while a government team studies them.

Christopher Reeve stars as the father of the leader of the children, Mara. Co-star Kirstie Alley as the government scientific in charge of the study. To be fair, the acting of the children was superb, while the acting of the adult characters was somewhat weak. Reeve steals the show, and Alley just seems out of place.

As I wrote before, the whole movie has that early 80's feeling, and I would dare to say that it feels as something made for TV. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it's probably the main reason this movie is not very popular. This old school style maybe was not very attractive for 95's audience, Carpenter would go in a better direction once reunited with Kurt Russell in 96's Escape From L.A.

I have not seen the original movie yet, so I came to it without any expectation, I can't say I ended pleased, but I found it entertaining, although quite slow at times.

It's worth to notice that it has beautiful cinematography, and even when it may be a flawed effort, it's worth a rent. It's one of those movies that takes it's time to grow on you.

7/10

My mother turned on Village of the Damned one evening because Christopher Reeve was in it. I knew absolutely nothing about it beyond the fact that there was a movie by that title. After ten minutes I was completely hooked. After it was over I thought about it and realized there were some flaws, but still, while it lasted I was fascinated. I recommend it.