VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED (1995 - HORROR / SCI-FI / EVIL CHILD FLICK) *** out of ***** OR 6 out of 10
(Great. A whole army of "Damiens.")
CAST: Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Linda Kozlowski, Michael Pare, Mark Hamill, Meredith Salenger, Pippa Peartree, Constance Forslund, Peter Jason, Karen Kahn, Lindsay Haun, Thomas Dekker.
DIRECTOR: John Carpenter
(WARNING: Some SPOILERS and pretty strong arguments to get your tubes tied ASAP - straight ahead...)
IT'S LIKE THIS: Remember how in our recent review of THE OMEN (review # 581), we watched how a nice American family in England was destroyed from within (and without) by demonic forces stemming from their... adopted son named "Damien?" Well, imagine that devilish tyke - and multiply him by ten. The product would be our next "31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN" review, so evocatively titled VILLAGE OF THE FUCKED. Oh, excuse me.... it's actually called... VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED. My bad. Well, same difference, right?
Anyhow, our story starts in the lovely, remote Northern California town of Midwich. It starts out like any other day. We see lovey-dovey couple Alan and Barbara Chaffee (Christopher Reeve, Karen Kahn) getting all lovey-dovey in bed just before dawn. We see lovey-dovey couple Frank and Jill McGowan (Michael Pare, Linda Kozlowski) getting all lovey-dovey in bed right at dawn. We see the townspeople all getting lovey-dovey with each other (figuratively, not literally thank god) at the local school later that morning, where some sort of fundraiser is about to start.
Then we see lovely Jill again, who is apparently the school principal, running around trying to set things up. We also see, um, sort-of-lovely Reverend George and wife Sarah (Mark Hamill, Pippa Peartree) run around trying to out-do Jill in the event-organizing department. In short, we see a lot of lovely small town people doing a lot of small town people stuff.
Then, just when you think you can't take anymore "lovey-dovey" or "lovely" smalltown stuff, something decidedly un-lovely and truly awful happens: everyone in Midwich passes out at the same time. They just all frickin' keel over right then and there where they are standing. Let me tell you that there is something unexpectedly hilarious about seeing all these yokels passed out all over the place, indoors and outdoors, like their batteries all dried up at the same time.
Eventually, after a few hours, everyone in Midwich wakes up. And none of them can remember anything - except they all blacked out at the same time right in the middle of the fucking day. Trying to understand this creepy phenomenon is chain-smoking Federal epidemiologist Dr. Susan Verner (Kirstie Alley), who came to Midwich as soon as she learned about the mass blackout. Working with her is Alan, who turns out to be the town doctor who luckily had to leave Midwich on business when the mass blackout happened.
Things in Midwich get even weirder (I mean, even weirder than everyone keeling over at the same time like they'd had one Tequila shot too many). Try this one on for size: 10 local women suddenly find out they're all pregnant - and according to Dr. Alan, all the pregnancies date back to... the day of the mass blackout. And one of the women had never even had sex before. And another woman has a husband who's been in Japan for the last year. And another woman looks about as fertile as me. Oh, my bad... that was just Reverend George. He sure does look feminine from certain angles, doesn't he?
Naturally, the pregnant women of Midwich are terrified that they are impregnated with deformed fetuses and want to abort. Dr. Susan, however, tells them that their mysterious pregnancies have attracted a gigantic amount of scientific interest (yeah, no shit, lady) and that the Federal Government wants to study their offspring. Dr. Susan tells them that if they carry their babies to term and successfully download them, the government will pay them a stipend of $3,000 a month. I don't have to tell you that a collective "Cha-Ching!" goes off in the room as "Jackpot" flashes in the eyes of everyone there.
So, before you know it, our knocked-up-when-they-were-knocked-out ladies (which include Jill, Barbara, and Mrs. Reverend George) are giving birth all at the same time in an abandoned barn converted into a clinic (don't ask). And from the looks of the babies, they all had the same Papa - someone who has hair as white as snow and eyes as blank as Miley Cyrus. Inexplicably, though, everyone doesn't question the fact that these tow-headed tykes all look the same. Just another day in Midwich, I guess.
Until, the first townsperson dies by "accident." Then the next. And then the next. And the next. Each of these tragedies occurs when the towheaded "Blackout Children" were nearby? Could they have been behind them? What special powers do these albino-but-not-really-albino kids have? Where did they come from, anwyay? What do they want from the people of MIdwich? Who can stop them? Dr. Alan? Dr. Susan? Jill? Reverend George? Someone else? Or is Midwich destined to be... damned forever?
Let's just say I wouldn't swing by there on your next tour of rural Northern California.
BUT SERIOUSLY: Quite frankly, VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED is one-half of a terrific movie. The first 44 minutes of this film are some of John Carpenter's best work. He does a masterful job of establishing the town of Midwich and its assorted inhabitants. And when the pivotal "mass blackout" scene occurs, orchestrated by that "whispering cloud" that passes over the town, Carpenter has us firmly in his cinematic clutches. It's a bravura opening that signals a terrific horror movie to come.
Just as effective is the "mass revival" scene when everyone wakes up. This sequence is so vivid that we actually feel the same disorientation the characters do. This entire opening setpiece is very strong and promises a horror film that, if not outright surpassing previous Carpenter hits like HALLOWEEN and THE FOG, then at least matching or coming very close their level. That's how effective the first half of this movie is. Everything up to the first scene with the grown-up children in the Midwich clinic (right before the nurse blinds herself under their influence) is practically perfect.
Then the scene where the nurse blinds herself comes along and you can almost feel this movie start to sag, little by little. It's such a shame because it was moving on such a hypnotic, eerie, and compelling trajectory. And it's easy to see what caused the story to start to level off instead of continuing to rise: Carpenter reveals the evil of the children too abruptly and artlessly. Instead of keeping their powers hidden and covert, he overtly shows them in a way so blatant it kills the powerful sense of mystery this film has been building for the last 44 minutes.
To be fair, the second half of this film has some interesting moments and a finale that does a good job of keeping you somewhat on the edge. However, there are, again, too many scenes in between of the "blackout children" wreaking havoc on various townspeople. Eventually, these "shock" scenes get repetitive and instead of underscoring the mystery and malevolence of the kids, shows how banal and almost silly they are.
Carpenter is a master of suggestive horror, as he showed in HALLOWEEN and THE FOG, and it is very puzzling as to why he didn't employ the same tactic here. Perhaps, he felt that since this was a 90s horror flick, he needed to up the ante through explicit violence. The truth is he could've done that through atmosphere and tension, but unfortunately he goes the wrong way after the midway point.
What makes VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED doubly disappointing is that it has a genuinely intriguing and scary premise that could've yielded a modern classic. It might have even been as good as the British movie of the same title from 1960 that it's a remake of. VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED 1960 was a masterpiece of simmering tension, subdued horror, and eerie mystery - all because director Wolf Rilla chose to gradually reveal the extent of the "blackout children's" evil as the film unfolded. In VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED 1995, Carpenter reveals everything all at once, erasing most of the tension.
At least he has a good cast that keeps everything afloat during this misguided second half. Sadly, this was Christopher Reeve's last film before his tragic accident that paralyzed him. He does a solid job as Alan Chaffee, the small town doc who must deal with the death of his wife, possibly at the influence of his child, and also with the child herself. His daughter Mara, unfortunately, is played by Lindsay Haun with very little menace and too much hamminess - and since she's the "leader" of the evil pack of kids, that neutralizes much of the threat.
Kirstie Alley is amusing and intriguing in equal measure as Dr. Susan Verner, the mysterious Fed who must balance the interests of the government with the welfare of the citizens of Midwich. Alley manages the neat trick of making Susan both open and secretive at the same time. And for much of the film, you can't quite tell if she's friend or foe - which is how the character should be played. Much like Sharon Stone and her femme fatale role in BASIC INSTINCT, Alley never makes the mistake of making Susan either too transparent or too opaque. Instead, she's like a partially opened book that slams shut when you least expect it, keeping you firmly out. But then that book also sometimes opens up a little bit more than you'd expect - when you least expect it. And Alley's cool, distant, yet also dryly funny demeanor is perfect for the role of this woman whose hidden agendas seem to have hidden agendas of their own.
The most sympathetic and relatable character, though, is Jill McGowan. She's played by Linda Kozlowski, whom I've adored since her appearance as Sue Charlton in CROCODILE DUNDEE 1 & 2. Kozlowski nails not only Jill's vulnerability and openness, but also her strength and resilience. Unlike Susan, Jill is a completely open book with no hidden motives or agendas. As such, she becomes our "portal" character into the plot - even more so than Alan, actually. Much of this has to do with how winningly Kozlowski plays the character. You can't help but be on her side as soon as you meet her - and hope that she makes it past the end credits. Good job from Kozlowski. It's a shame that she retired from acting just a few years after this movie. She is sorely missed.
The supporting roles are filled by competent players like Mark Hamill, Meredith Salenger, Peter Jason, Constance Forlund, and Michael Pare. Pare, in particular, is so vivid and effective in his small role as Frank, Jill's husband who dies in the middle of the blackout, that you kind of miss him for the rest of the film. I guess that's the whole point: so you can feel Jill's loss, as well. It was shrewd of Carpenter to cast such a charismatic actor as Michael Pare in this small but important part.
In summary, while VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED 1995 is not as strong as VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED 1960, it's still an above average remake that might've been a classic if Carpenter had been able to sustain the wonderfully eerie atmosphere and tension of the first half. Oh, well....
