31 Horror Movies in 31 Days: Village of the Damned (1995)

Village of the Damned (1995)

Directed by John Carpenter

Starring Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Linda Kozlowski, Mark Hamill, Michael Paré, Meredith Salenger

The small town of Midwich is mysteriously struck with a bout of spontaneous sleep. When everyone wakes, the government is a bit concerned about how and why this happened. It turns out that every woman in town is pregnant, prompting the government to stick around and keep tabs on how the children progress. The kids are all remarkably gifted and look eerily alike with very pale skin, white hair, and piercing blue eyes. They also exhibit supernatural powers like telepathy and mind control. Killing all who oppose them and terrorizing the town into submission, it’s up to a few strong willed adults to stop the children before they leave town.

Given John Carpenter’s track record with remakes of famous horror movies, you expect Village of the Damned to be at least awesome. It’s not, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good. The movie is just well made and entertaining, but nothing mind blowing.

Carpenter as always knows how to set up mood and tension. The film is certainly unnerving and builds on each scene to paint a thorough picture of life under the children. You get a sense of this town being choked out by a group of spooky kids with light-up eyes. The effects are pretty decent, both practical and computer generated. At first the glowing eyes of the kids are kind of funny, but that’s quickly remedied after someone starts self-mutilating.

The cast is filled with talented actors doing perfectly adequate jobs. Christopher Reeve does his level best, looking quite concerned and at times very fatherly. Kristie Alley is surprisingly effective as a suspicious, chain smoking G-man type. And the kids all do a great job looking creepy and threatening. No standout performances, but there also aren’t any that really drag the movie down.

There’s nothing particularly wrong with Village of the Damned, but there’s also nothing really spectacular either. It’s only for those who are fans of the original and those curious about Carpenter’s take on the material.

7 out of 10