Directed by:
John CarpenterCinematography:
Gary B. KibbeCast:
Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Linda Kozlowski, Michael Paré, Meredith Salenger, Mark Hamill, Peter Jason, Lane Nishikawa, John Carpenter, Lindsey Haun (more)VOD (2)
Plots(1)
Something is terribly wrong in the tiny village of Midwich. After an unseen force invades a quiet coastal town, ten women mysteriously find themselves pregnant. Local physician Dr. Alan Chaffee and government scientist Dr. Susan Verner join forces when the women simultaneously give birth... and the reign of horror begins. All born with platinum-white hair, fierce intellect and steely, cobalt eyes, the emotionless offspring display eerie psychic abilities and remarkable powers which they use with deadly consequences, unleashing a storm of terror. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (4)
An inoffensive adaptation of Wyndham's classic that suffers from a slightly softened Carpenter who seems to have run out of bizarre ideas for disposing of people, which is quite unfortunate because the material was perfect for it. It’s not boring, but I did forget it after a few days.
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John Carpenter modernized and commercialized the classic substance of the original. The shining of the children’s eyes looks sexier, the black-and-white image has been replaced with colorful sets and the costumes of the protagonists, and a broad range of stars appear in the film. But even that wasn’t enough. Because even though Carpenter tried to wrap it all in a veil of gloomy mystery (have a listen to his typically dark soundtrack), the result utterly lacks the atmosphere of the original. It’s as if Carpenter himself was hypnotized by one of the children during filming. This new Village of the Damned is worthy of attention perhaps only for Star Wars fans who want to see Mark Hamill in the role of the neurotic priest.
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Given the distaste with which Carpenter approached this film, I'm quite inclined to think that at some point he just stopped coming to the set, so the rest of the crew just shot close-ups of the child actors' faces in each location and then edited the result from there. Then if there's one thing the script completely resigned itself to, it's translating the 1950s subject matter into the 1990s and American realities (a California village becomes a zone where everyone falls into a deep sleep for six hours and it doesn't leak to the media, yeah right). The highlights are the performances by Mark Hamill and Christopher Reeve, which could knock you off your horse.
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A bad B-movie in the spirit of the bad B-movies of the 1950s. A deadly serious but ultimately unintentionally ridiculous plot, clueless actors and a few interesting scenes, but you should probably just watch them on YouTube and not bother with the whole film.
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