While remakes are often flat-out cash grabs, sometimes there’s a legitimate, if secondary to profit, reason to go in for seconds.
Case in point, John Carpenter’s Village of the Damned (1995).
The original 1960 film, based on the novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham, is a relatively beloved horror classic.
But it bumped against the limits of 60s taboos, dampening some of the novel’s bite.
According to MGM-British executives, you couldn’t mention the word “impregnation” on screen at that time, much less dare to dive into abortion.
But executives had to have smelled money in a revamped Village when a remade Invasion of the Body Snatchers lit up theaters in 1978. And after the wild ’60s and ’70s, social attitudes had shifted.
After decades of trying to get the project off the ground, it reached Universal Pictures, who approached John Carpenter to direct.
Carpenter, who had seen the original in his youth, was happy to take the project on. Filming would be in his familiar Northern California haunts, and he knew he had all the tools for a vision to bring this classic horror up to date.
But his Village of the Damned was a crushing disappointment.
Against its $22 million budget, it brought back a meager $9.4 million in the US box office, with critics unenthralled.
But like most John Carpenter films that were initial flops, you can find fans of this one today, enough that it’s received Blu-Ray releases through outfits like Shout! Factory.
So does Village of the Damned deserve its bad reputation, or is it due a second chance?
The Plot of Village of the Damned:
Every person and animal inexplicably blacks out at 10:00 AM in slow-paced, small-town Midwich, California.
In the afternoon, Dr. Alan Chaffee (Christopher Reeve), away that morning and returning to Midwich, is stopped by a police and Federal barricade on the town’s borders.
Epidemiologist Dr. Susan Verner (Kirstie Alley) questions Chaffee and fills him in on the situation.
At 4:00 PM, the blackout lifts as all the citizens and animals rise.
The ensuing investigation into the blackout turns up nothing.
Sometime later, as the town returns to life after the incident, Dr. Chaffee makes a startling discovery: ten women are newly pregnant, with all pregnancies dating back to the day of the incident.
Will the women carry these pregnancies to term? And how will this new generation shape the future of the town?
The Rest of the Main Cast Includes:
- Linda Kozlowski as Jill McGowan
- Meredith Salenger as Melanie Roberts
- Mark Hamill as Reverend George
- Pippa Pearthree as Sarah
- Peter Jason as Ben Blum
- Michael Paré as Frank McGowan
- Karen Kahn as Barbara Chaffee
- Thomas Dekker as David McGowan
- Lindsey Haun as Mara Chaffee
- Trishalee Hardy as Julie
- Cody Dorkin as Robert
- Adam Robbins as Isaac
- Jessye Quarry as Dorothy
- John Falk as Matt
- Danielle Keaton as Lily
- Renee Rene Simms as Casey
What’s Working Well Here:
Cinematography, +3 Points
The film’s sweeping camerawork flows in harmony with the story.
In the title credits, like an overture, we bounce around shots of Midwich. We see the front of town, its “population 2,000” sign to the right of our frame. We take a mini tour, taking in little flashes of its life – the western saloon restaurant, the barbershop, complete with a striped pole.
All is well in the still quiet of the morning. But an invasion is imminent.
In aerial shots, the camera rides as if floating on the wind. It creeps over hills and settles at the town’s borders. As the camera approaches the residential streets, we hear whispers, perhaps of a demonic force.
And as it arrives at the front of Dr. Chaffee’s house, it inches toward his front door.
And we tour its scale when the complete blackout occurs, like a town thrust suddenly under Sleeping Beauty’s spell. The camera pulls wide to an entire school barbecue, now a twisted Norman Rockwell painting. In the foreground are sleeping children; in the background is the still-smoking barbecue, its operator asleep on the grill top.
There are cuts to a still-running bathtub faucet, pulling out to a shot of the bathroom, young Melanie Roberts passed out on the floor. Or we get a view behind the exhaust of an idling motorcycle, its rider thrown to the street.
The little tour of violence establishes the blackout as a force more than benign, helping to build suspense.
Neat Setup and Story Progression, + 3 Points
The film gets off to a strong start. It keeps its momentum into the second act, always progressing the story and moving along its mystery.
It establishes its small-town setting and hooks interest with the blackout.
Soon, it’s revealed that many Midwich women are pregnant, including a virgin and one who hasn’t had sex for a year.
Next, we squish nine months into minutes as we wonder if the expectant mothers will bear the children.
And soon, the kids are born, where the real trouble begins. They start doing things you won’t find in the What to Expect When You’re Expecting book series, like spelling their name or showing off their otherworldly flashing, bright green eyes.
Let’s Hear It for the Kids, +2 Points
If the Midwichers were going to complain about their strange batch of kids who showed no respect, they didn’t have to dress them like they belonged on Vogue kids’ covers.
Laid-back Midwich is a casual sea of jeans and flannel. Yet the kids sport impeccable top coats, sweaters, and even bowties.
To further set the children apart, hairstylist Charlotte Gravenor bleached the children’s hair and then applied white hairspray.
The look screams less Village of the Damned than it does academy of the snobs, and I loved it.
The movie also built some neat social dynamics in the children.
Perhaps because he’s lost his stillborn partner, David is the only one with sympathy for normal humans.
Mara is the unofficial leader, unsettlingly precocious. She’s got more malice than a nine-year-old denied a candy aisle on her birthday.
And you have to give credit to Thomas Dekker, Lindsey Haun, and the rest of the clan of young actors. For children, they turn in mature performances.
Spoiler Here:
Dr. Chaffee argued with Mara that the kids are inferior to true humans because they don’t have empathy. And his attack, because it puts himself at risk, blindsides the children.
Technically, the kids lose their game because of empathy, the trait that, other than David, they all lack.
The Not-As-Good Things:
Low Scare Factor, -2 Points
As a parent, I can tell you that kids can be frightening.
But I would still relegate this movie to a thriller rather than a horror show. It’s light on scares and doesn’t hit the “Oh, shit!” moments hard enough.
With their psychic ways, the children force adults into brutally harming themselves. But you see it coming.
And since the adults don’t have a way of fighting back, it’s like a cat toying with a grasshopper until it’s bored and rakes its claws over it. You’re waiting your way through these scenes rather than in suspense.
However, the film did produce one truly horrifying scene: the hospital room with all ten women giving birth at the same time. Yikes!
Those Damned Kids! -4 Points
Years into the film, after the children have grown, they have built a history of lashing out at the Midwichers.
But rather than further escalate the tension in the movie, it’s the worst-kept secret in town.
Adults openly say biting things about the kids, believing them responsible for attacks when it hasn’t been confirmed or muttering about their lack of respect.
And this is where the film starts to fall apart.
You have to suspend some belief in movies, and perhaps the intention in the script was to keep building more and more conflict between the townspeople and the children.
But though people will try later, it’s unrealistic that the town wouldn’t take action against these monsters at this point, when everyone bemoans them like a curse or a blight.
The movie could have capitalized on the escalating tensions. They could have played it more ambiguous for longer. The town could have debated protecting the children with psychological counseling or conceded that they’re a menace and something is wrong.
But it doesn’t. Like an older man with heart palpitations who refuses to go to the doctor for a checkup, the town is in a state of awareness and denial.
Sagging Character Development, -8 Points
The film needs to give more screen time to fleshing out its characters.
**Small Spoilers Here**
One example is near the end of the film. Dr. Chaffee and Principal McGowan share a goodbye kiss as he sets off with a plot to foil the kids.
But while you understand there was respect between them, the film never hints at romance.
Both of them are now widows. It’s a lost opportunity to make them likable and add tension as Dr. Chaffee plots to risk his life and defeat the kids.
Let’s Not Watch Village of the Damned
Total Arbitrary Points Score: -6 Points
Village of the Damned is one of John Carpenter’s weakest movies, and it’s too bad.
It builds on a promising premise, enhanced by smooth camerawork. And the children, a fulcrum of the movie, act their parts well and carry a creepy, nifty aesthetic.
But the characters are lacking, the wheels come off the kids’ charade too early, and the film fails to frighten.
Carpenter has admitted this was one of the films he was the least excited to make, which could be the root of the problem.
I am not suggesting Carpenter took the money and mailed it in. It’s a well-shot movie that has good aspects.
But if the film was his own creation, something the creative talents were invested in trying to maximize, perhaps it could have solved some script issues and ironed its way out.
Still, you will find fans of this movie and fans of Carpenter who disagree with me here.
But one thing’s for sure: if your young ones band together, start dressing Ivy league, and develop an appetite for the Encyclopedia and a disdain for questions, run.
Village of the Damned Is rated R and was directed by John Carpenter.
You can stream it on Peacock with a subscription.
You can watch the trailer here.
Disclaimer:
The factual information about the film in this review was gathered through online sources, such as Wikipedia, IMDB, or interviews. Misrepresentations and errors are possible but unintentional.
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