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/
Info

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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Director

John Carpenter

Production Companies

Universal Pictures

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Village of the Damned Audience Reviews

Karry Best movie of this year hands down!
TinsHeadline Touches You
Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.
InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
The-Social-Introvert Village of the Damned was made well into the I'm-tired-and-I-just- don't-give-a-damn-anymore stage of Carpenter's career. Like The Ward 15 years later, it feels so bland and pointless. What is there to gain from watching this film? It's not scary. It's not funny. And it certainly doesn't make use of a cast that includes Christopher Reeve (in his last role before he was paralyzed by falling off his horse), Kirstie Alley, and Mark Hamill. The direction is lazy, the execution clumsy. The end could leave you pondering on the fate of two of the main characters (one of whom happens to be an inhumane psychic monster- child alien – but don't worry, he's probably a goody now that he lost his sexual partner who became a test tube blob because she was stolen at childbirth by the government after her mother was impregnated by an alien space ghost…wait, what?) but by then you'll have dozed off. Flat and tedious, Village of the Damned is a tired product from a fatigued director.Best Scene: The part where everyone in the town faints as a result of the alien-ghost thingies (where they every explained?) is the only good scene in the movie. It also provides a chilling death-by- barbecue.
Top_Cat84 So in this film a mysterious invisible fog penetrates a small Californian town, making everybody collapse and pass out. When they come to again the women soon realise that they are all pregnant. Despite the fears of having deformed babies they are all persuaded to keep them due to the promise of financial reward. Soon the babies are born and grow up to become murderous little children through their use of mind control.From the children being born to them being of school age happens in the blink of an eye. I suppose this had to be done, but it just seems sloppily executed and a bit disorientating.In one scene all the women have near-religious dreams persuading them further to keep their babies. The effects at this point reminded me of effects in the Ghostbusters franchise, despite being filmed six years after Ghostbusters 2. There appears to have been no advancements in SPX in this period (which I find hard to believe). This being said, I did really enjoy the effects when the little children, with their white make up and blonde hair, started shining their eyes. The imagery of this was perfect for the film.The children in the film act particularly well. Christopher Reeve is good but doesn't get a real chance to shine as his character lacks depth. He's a character who I really wanted to care for but I just couldn't feel that emotionally connected with him. Kirstie Alley adds nothing of note to the film except about thirty cigarettes due to her lighting up in nearly every scene.So, not a complete travesty but I imagine I won't go out of my way to watch it again anytime soon.
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.
mitchell5954 Village of the Damned is one of those films that has everything going for it but does not quite live up to its potential. It is definitely not one of John Carpenter's stronger films. The film is not bad because there are definitely many good points to it, but also quite a few not so good points. This film has a great premise. The cast was great and the effects were pretty decent. I will say the beginning and the ending are both great and suspenseful. However, the middle portion is the factor that really brings the film down.The movie stars the late Christopher Reeve as Dr. Alan Chaffee, Kirstie Alley as Dr. Susan Verner, and Mark Hamill in a small role as the village priest. The story is as follows. One day, in a small village called Midwich everyone suddenly collapses. They wake up not knowing what happened. A couple days later it is revealed that all of the village women have become pregnant at once. The babies grow at an exponential rate. They discover that the babies are of extraterrestrial origin. Even the government gets involves to uncover this mystery. The babies are born and grow very quickly in a few weeks or months. These children all have white hair, little personality, and have the ability to ready and control people's minds. Eventually they mind control people to have them commit suicide. Now it is up to Christopher Reeve to stop them.Again the film starts out great where you have the whole village suddenly losing consciousness. They, along, with the audience, are trying to figure what could have caused that. Then you have every woman in the village getting pregnant. This is all really interesting. What could have caused this, and what is their intention? Then at the end you have a fun sequence where the military comes in to deal with the children. The children then take control of all of their minds and force them to kill each other. That was a very fun scene with great production value. There are even some decent kills during the middle.However, the middle portion I found to be very boring and lackluster. Most of the middle is focused on the children, how different and inhuman they are, and the village and government debating on what to do with them. There was barely and horror, tension, action, or anything like that. I just did not care and found myself almost falling asleep. Mark Hamill's character gets killed off in a stupid way during the middle as well, which annoyed me. I am a fan of Mark Hamill, so I did not like him being killed off so early. There are some decent kills by the children here and there, but not enough for me.Also we never find out what these children really are, where they came from, and why they are doing this. We know that they hate humans, but we do not know why. All the questions that I had during the beginning of the film were never addressed. This is why I do not think this movie quite lived up to its potential.Overall, Village of the Damned is not bad, but was a bit disappointing. If you are a fan of John Carpenter and his other works then give this a look. Just do not expect something on the level of Halloween, The Thing, The Fog, etc.