Village Of The Damned (1995)
Village Of The Damned (1995)
Village Of The Damned is a remake of the 1960 film of the same name, and based on the 1957 novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham. This version was directed by John Carpenter with a screenplay by David Himmelstein and re-written by John Carpenter. The film was distributed by Universal Pictures, who had received the rights from MGM to do a re-make. The film stars Christopher Reeves, who is best known for his iconic role as Superman, in his last film before his tragic accident, and also his final theatrically released film. Christopher Reeves plays Dr. Alan Chaffee, Karen Kahn plays his wife Barbara Chaffee, Kirstie Alley plays Dr Susan Verner, Linda Kozlowski plays Jill McGowan, and Mark Hamill plays Reverend George (goes from "Luke I am your father", to "father Luke Skywalker"... I found that really funny was I watched this). The children are played by Thomas Dekker as David McGowan, Lindsey Haun as Mara Chaffee, Cody Dorkin as Robert Roberts, Trishalee Hardy as Julie Blum, Jessye Quarry as Dorothy, Adam Robbins as Isaac George, Chelsea DeRidder Simms as Matt, Renee Rene as Casey, and Danielle Keaton as Lily.
For the most part the film follows the original fairly well. In the original film censors didn't really allow subject matter like the pregnancies, or the idea of abortion, and thus was toned down significantly from the novel. This film had film had more freedom to discuss those issues, and it took advantage of that. I do think though that this film goes into a little to much detail of the explanations behind this film. In the original they left an element of vagueness as to what exactly the children are, and allowed the viewer to wonder. In this film they tell you exactly what the children are, and leave nothing really for the imagination. The children are far more evil in this film, and it definitely crosses the line from science-fiction with a horror element into being a horror-drama with a science-fiction element. Also the film adds in more graphic violence and gore, which all graphic violence and gore in the original film was off screen and left to the viewers imagination. The film also feels slower paced, because there is more time spent on introducing characters, and the evolution of the pregnancy to child birth, whereas the other film quickly jumped forward in time, almost too quickly making the time span feel like months rather than years, this film it feels like it takes years for it to happen. Many of the key scenes from the original film were found in this film, and I do like that a lot, it felt recognizable and familiar, like visiting an old friend, but it was also different enough to be it's own work. The film made several changes in characters and genders from the original film, and I think in this case that actually works, usually it annoys me when films do that, but it works for this.
The cast themselves are pretty well cast, and are mostly likeable characters and I feel it is easy for the viewer to feel empathy with some of the main characters. I do like that there is a subtle reference to Reeves Roll as Superman early on in the film, when someone says asks him if he is going to the school fair, because they have one of those strength testing things, and he could show them how strong he really is. He replies that he would sit this one out and let the young men show their strength, which is a subtle nod to him no longer playing his iconic roll of Superman. I don't know that it was intentional, but it was too clever not to be. Kirstie Alley was great as the hard-ass government doctor studying the children, she had this coldness to her that suit the character well, and Linda Kozlowski as Jill the school principal was the character that I felt the viewers could most easily feel empathy for, and care the most about.
So with a decent cast, and a proven great story to work with, that was only gently changed, and with a legendary horror director like John Carpenter at the helm there were all of the ingredients for a great horror remake of the horror classic, Village of the Damned, however something went wrong in this film and it loses what it was that made the original so great. It is hard to pinpoint where exactly this film loses touch, but somewhere it loses what made the original so great. In many ways this should have been a better film, as one of the children, David becomes a sympathetic character, as he develops emotions and doesn't want to hurt the humans, which I think adds this nice depth that is really good. Maybe it is seeing the baby that was stillborn in a jar in Dr Verner's lab, and seeing that it was an alien, because it failed to properly incorporate the DNA from its host mother, maybe that felt a little comical, maybe it was the graphic violence, and definitely it was all of the explosions (I wish Hollywood didn't have this weird idea that cars explode in crashes, and by being shot with a shotgun), and maybe other than a few key actors, much of the cast felt stiff and unrelatable. Something failed to resonate with this film. I think I did appreciate it more upon this viewing, than I have in the past, and I think upon this viewing I would say that I really did enjoy this film, where as in the past that wouldn't have been true.
When I say that this film failed to live up to its predecessor, I do mean that this film was a serious financial flop in the box office, it was made with a budget of $22 million and in the box office it only grossed a mere $9.4 million. That is the kind of numbers that can end careers of less established directors. The film also received generally negative reviews from critics, and on film ranking cites the film has received mediocre rankings. I think that is the key here: mediocre. This remake of Village of the Damned isn't BAD, it is just mediocre, I think that is why it fails to resonate, I think that is why it is so forgettable, and that is why it did so bad. This film isn't groundbreaking, it isn't passionate, it is just mediocre, and I feel that that mediocrity is the reasons for the failure of Village of the Damned.
If you want to experience Village of the Damned, watch the 1960 version, this 1995 remake is not the way to experience this classic. Watch this if you enjoyed the 1960 version and would like to see some of the themes hinted at played out in more detail, but just don't expect anything too great, because you won't get it here. There are things that were done right, like the way that for the kids' hair they bleached it blonde and used white hair spray to get the white colour, also the visual effects of the children's eyes looks so much better than in the classic film, because of the technology that is available, also some of the added story elements are nice as well. This film is worth watching, there are some things about it that are well done, like I said in by no means is this a bad film, just a mediocre one. So I do encourage you to watch it, if you haven't, it just will never make any must-see lists.
For the most part the film follows the original fairly well. In the original film censors didn't really allow subject matter like the pregnancies, or the idea of abortion, and thus was toned down significantly from the novel. This film had film had more freedom to discuss those issues, and it took advantage of that. I do think though that this film goes into a little to much detail of the explanations behind this film. In the original they left an element of vagueness as to what exactly the children are, and allowed the viewer to wonder. In this film they tell you exactly what the children are, and leave nothing really for the imagination. The children are far more evil in this film, and it definitely crosses the line from science-fiction with a horror element into being a horror-drama with a science-fiction element. Also the film adds in more graphic violence and gore, which all graphic violence and gore in the original film was off screen and left to the viewers imagination. The film also feels slower paced, because there is more time spent on introducing characters, and the evolution of the pregnancy to child birth, whereas the other film quickly jumped forward in time, almost too quickly making the time span feel like months rather than years, this film it feels like it takes years for it to happen. Many of the key scenes from the original film were found in this film, and I do like that a lot, it felt recognizable and familiar, like visiting an old friend, but it was also different enough to be it's own work. The film made several changes in characters and genders from the original film, and I think in this case that actually works, usually it annoys me when films do that, but it works for this.
The cast themselves are pretty well cast, and are mostly likeable characters and I feel it is easy for the viewer to feel empathy with some of the main characters. I do like that there is a subtle reference to Reeves Roll as Superman early on in the film, when someone says asks him if he is going to the school fair, because they have one of those strength testing things, and he could show them how strong he really is. He replies that he would sit this one out and let the young men show their strength, which is a subtle nod to him no longer playing his iconic roll of Superman. I don't know that it was intentional, but it was too clever not to be. Kirstie Alley was great as the hard-ass government doctor studying the children, she had this coldness to her that suit the character well, and Linda Kozlowski as Jill the school principal was the character that I felt the viewers could most easily feel empathy for, and care the most about.
So with a decent cast, and a proven great story to work with, that was only gently changed, and with a legendary horror director like John Carpenter at the helm there were all of the ingredients for a great horror remake of the horror classic, Village of the Damned, however something went wrong in this film and it loses what it was that made the original so great. It is hard to pinpoint where exactly this film loses touch, but somewhere it loses what made the original so great. In many ways this should have been a better film, as one of the children, David becomes a sympathetic character, as he develops emotions and doesn't want to hurt the humans, which I think adds this nice depth that is really good. Maybe it is seeing the baby that was stillborn in a jar in Dr Verner's lab, and seeing that it was an alien, because it failed to properly incorporate the DNA from its host mother, maybe that felt a little comical, maybe it was the graphic violence, and definitely it was all of the explosions (I wish Hollywood didn't have this weird idea that cars explode in crashes, and by being shot with a shotgun), and maybe other than a few key actors, much of the cast felt stiff and unrelatable. Something failed to resonate with this film. I think I did appreciate it more upon this viewing, than I have in the past, and I think upon this viewing I would say that I really did enjoy this film, where as in the past that wouldn't have been true.
When I say that this film failed to live up to its predecessor, I do mean that this film was a serious financial flop in the box office, it was made with a budget of $22 million and in the box office it only grossed a mere $9.4 million. That is the kind of numbers that can end careers of less established directors. The film also received generally negative reviews from critics, and on film ranking cites the film has received mediocre rankings. I think that is the key here: mediocre. This remake of Village of the Damned isn't BAD, it is just mediocre, I think that is why it fails to resonate, I think that is why it is so forgettable, and that is why it did so bad. This film isn't groundbreaking, it isn't passionate, it is just mediocre, and I feel that that mediocrity is the reasons for the failure of Village of the Damned.
If you want to experience Village of the Damned, watch the 1960 version, this 1995 remake is not the way to experience this classic. Watch this if you enjoyed the 1960 version and would like to see some of the themes hinted at played out in more detail, but just don't expect anything too great, because you won't get it here. There are things that were done right, like the way that for the kids' hair they bleached it blonde and used white hair spray to get the white colour, also the visual effects of the children's eyes looks so much better than in the classic film, because of the technology that is available, also some of the added story elements are nice as well. This film is worth watching, there are some things about it that are well done, like I said in by no means is this a bad film, just a mediocre one. So I do encourage you to watch it, if you haven't, it just will never make any must-see lists.
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