Village of the Damned
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Movie Reviews of Village of the Damned
Movie Review: Formatting - Beware the "Widescreen" caption
Summary: 2 Stars
This DVD displays the movie in widescreen letterbox format. What everyone fails to mention is this is not an anamorphic format, rather a letterbox format within a standard 4:3 (1.33:1) format. That means for those of you that have purchased high-end video gear you'll get a horrible picture. I am a bit surprised the picture quality is rated at 5 out of 5 by what I thought was a reputable institution. I consider resolution a key criteria for picture quality and Village of the Damned is definitely low-rez.If you don't understand most of this and are content with a 10-year-old TV, buy it; you probably won't see any of the problems I have outlined here. This review is for people with current technology that want to get the most out of it.
Movie Review: Village of the Damned (1995) (Ws)
Summary: 2 Stars
Village of the Damned (1995) (Ws) is the remake of the 1960 horror classic with the same title. Carpentener's version of the story is not nearly as frightening and Christopher Reeve does an alright job in the role of the doctor. The special effects feel a bit cheap and the music could have been better. Considering that the 1960 version is a classic in the genre of horror maybe Carpentener should have realized that any attempt on his behalf would never equal that of the original. It is not a dreadful movie but still it feels boring at times and I often find myself comparing how amazing I really thought the original movie was. 2/5.Movie Review: A real disappointment
Summary: 2 Stars
Well Carpenter misfired with this one. There is a sadistic scene which served no real purpose, and a weak script. Not a really bad movie, but not a good one either.Movie Review: it is anamorphic widescreen
Summary: 2 Stars
the person who wrote is saying it wasn't Anamorphic is wrong i just previewed my copy and it looks greatMovie Review: John Carpenter's worst
Summary: 1 Stars
I tried very hard to enjoy this film, being a fan of John Carpenter, of the original English version of the film, and of the original book by John Wyndham. Unfortunately it is a very poor effort and for me ranks as John Carpenter's worst film.
Carpenter is the horror/sf/fantasy B-movie great of current times, comparable in many ways with Roger Corman and Val Lewton from the mid 20th century. He has a deft touch and usually manages to turn in a quirkily personal vision which is always worth watching, even if he occasionally loses complete control of his films. Like Corman, he sometimes seems to lack the patience required in order to be a really great director.
In his "The Thing" he brought the much loved Howard Hawks thriller from the early 50s up to date, and to his credit he made a film which was both original and also more faithful to the book than the earlier effort, but he completely missed the target with "The Village of the Damned".
The atmosphere of the original book is all about tension, claustrophobia, and the terror that the people next door in a peaceful village setting are not what they seem. It depends on malevolence and an understated, brooding approach in order to work. Carpenter failed completely to capture this on film, and consequently his "cuckoos" are merely nasty and spiteful.
They do not have the required air of unstoppable power, authority and - most importantly - intelligence. The frightening thing about the children in both the book and the earlier film was that they were always two or three steps ahead of the adults, toying with them as a human child might unemotionally torment a small animal. The audience, identifying with the adults, should be drawn into the situation and feel personally threatened, but Carpenter did not understand how to achieve this state of threat by understatement. His style is too gory and obvious for this type of film, which needs a more subtle, romantic or gentle hand in order to work. Ron Howard would be the perfect director for this film, precisely because he does not work in the horror genre.
Think that sounds silly? Well imagine this - a version of "Cocoon" in which the old people bathe in the "energised" water of the pool, but then are "infected" by the alien presence which uses them as camouflage to quietly and methodically take over the planet, rather like "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". THAT is the sort of atmosphere that this film should have had, but completely missed.
Apart from that, there are also some gaping continuity holes in the script, and some truly absurd scenes that do not advance the action - evidence of Carpenter's typical haste and lack of patience with his films. What a shame that this was Christopher Reeves' last film role.