Village of the Damned

1995 "Beware the children."
5.6| 1h39m| R| en| More Info
Released: 28 April 1995 Released
Producted By: Universal Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com/village-of-the-damned/
Synopsis

An American village is visited by some unknown life form which leaves the women of the village pregnant. Nine months later, the babies are born, and they all look normal, but it doesn't take the "parents" long to realize that the kids are not human or humane.

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Reviews

TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film
Evengyny Thanks for the memories!
BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?
malonetritan Was boring to no end. Wasn't scary in the slightest.
Mr_Ectoplasma "Village of the Damned," an adaptation of the "Midwich Cuckoos" and remake of the 1960 film of the same name, chronicles mysterious occurrences in a small Northern California town where a miles-wide blackout occurs among all the residents; inexplicably, ten women in the town find themselves pregnant, and all give birth to children on the same date nine months later. The children exhibit mysterious as they age, and seem to possess a sinister plan.One of the lesser appreciated remakes, "Village of the Damned" had something of a lackluster production history, reportedly slapped together and ushered out by Universal Pictures after being severely edited. John Carpenter, in spite of penning and directing one of the most successful independent horror films of all time ("Halloween"), has been hit-and-miss for the majority of his post-"Halloween" career, and "Village of the Damned" is considered by most to be a definite miss. Fans and critics aren't incorrect in saying so either, because the film is far from a success; the main issue it has is that it feels remarkably streamlined and atonal. An example of this is that the narrative briskly and somewhat sloppily progresses from the pre-birth of the children to their elementary school ages, yet there is no sense of time having passed. The ostensible "main" characters, a doctor and a government scientist, played by Christopher Reeve and Kirstie Alley, respectively, slip in and out of the narrative carelessly, to the point that they almost seem ancillary. Meredith Salenger plays one of the town's pregnant young women, and the only one to birth a stillborn, while Mark Hamill is the town priest—these characters also seem to fall in and out of the narrative, and the result is that the film doesn't seem to be grounded in any one character. None of the performances are remarkable, though I'd chalk this up largely to the sloppy editing and narrative arrangement.All that said, the film is beautifully shot, and is extremely atmospheric. There are fantastic compositions of the children and moody meditations of the landscape. It's overall an aesthetically interesting film. The special effects feel like overkill at times, especially with the kids' eyes—granted, it was the early nineties when the film was made, so it's permissible, though it does age the film considerably. The extravagant sci-fi effects at the end are decent and more or less effective, though the conclusion feels just as disjointed as the rest of the film.At the end of the day, I can't help but feel like much of the faults in the "Village of the Damned" are a direct result of studio intervention that left it feeling like a disjointed hodgepodge of Carpenter's original intention. While it does feel confused, it is at least entertaining and cinematographically astute. Not one of Carpenter's best by any means, though it's difficult to tell how much its defects are a result of weak foundations or Universal's meddling. 6/10.
TheBlueHairedLawyer This eerie film isn't your typical "murderer on the loose" film. It provides horror by raising that question we all avoid... are there beings superior to us out there, and would they view us as equals, or would we be treated like cattle to them, useless creatures in the way? It starts off with Midwitch, a small town with charm and a tight-knit community. When everyone within the town faint during a school picnic one day, it intrigues the National Science Foundation, especially Dr. Verner, a stern and headstrong scientist who secretly knows what is happening but she doesn't let on. The local sheriff claims confusion; there is no industrial chemical plant nearby or anything that could knock out a whole town... when everyone wakes up, three have died, including the husband of the school principal. She is shocked and overjoyed to discover several weeks later that she is pregnant... but all the women, even ones who have never tried to have a child, are pregnant as well, and every pregnancy dates to the day of the strange fainting spell.When the children are finally born, they are all similar in appearance, white hair and hostile blue eyes, pale faces and uniform gray clothes. One of the babies is born dead, from the teenage mother who was a virgin although somehow she conceived a baby. Verner steals it for an autopsy, and in a deep depression the would-be-mother kills herself.The children, especially the leader, Mara, are all intellectually superior to the adults, don't play like the other kids in town do, and they are always around during a tragic death. They can control minds, Verner knows this, and confides in the town doctor that these kids are not from earth but are some race unknown to humanity. Only David, the principal's son, shows signs of emotion; there may be hope for him.This film is thrilling to the end, I saw it on TV once and loved it. The acting of the children is so good it's scary, likely the effect wanted, and the soundtrack is eerie yet beautiful. Every actor did a great job. I wouldn't suggest kids should watch it; there are disturbing scenes such as an unborn dead child, Dr. Verner cutting herself open with a surgical knife, a woman setting herself on fire and a priest shooting himself. If you're a fan of alien movies though, or movies about beings with psychic powers, this movie is a great one to try.
atinder Village of the Damned (1995) Frist of all, I don't the original was even that good but at least kept in and moved forward and at more creepy feel to the movie. I did think movie would be better as John Carpenter did this remake, So I looking forward to it but soon as the movie started I knew this movie not going to be good. I didn't really like how they kinda change the story , gave really lame back story to kids being borned , there not one moment did have this kids creepy or scary at all.It was tame from start to end and neverfeel moved forward as the movie was such their.I thought this was going to be a lot more better, so how they about to die, we actually see the death scenes in this movie, seen before and the aftermath but not when happens, it cuts way to the kids was lights in there eyes. The acting was really wooden by some of the main cast, I don't maybe they took make this more main stream movie.I think must be worst John carpenter movie but a least movie wasn't boring, it maybe a little intruded how the movie going pan out, even that ending was a load of rubbish.2 out of 10