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Village of the Damned (1995 film)
Encyclopedia
John Carpenter's Village of the Damned is a 1995 science fiction
-horror film
directed by John Carpenter
. It is a remake
of the 1960 film of the same name
which is based on the novel The Midwich Cuckoos
by John Wyndham
. The 1995 remake is set in the United States, while the book and original film were both set in the United Kingdom
. The film was marketed with the tagline, "Beware the Children."
It stars Christopher Reeve
(in his last starring role before he was paralyzed in a riding accident a month after its release), Kirstie Alley
, Linda Kozlowski
, Michael Pare
, Mark Hamill
and Meredith Salenger
. The remake stands out from the original due to its incorporation of graphic violence, with depictions of such things as a man falling asleep on a barbecue grill and a woman eviscerating
herself with a scalpel while under the children's psychic
control.
and remarkable powers, which they use with deadly consequences, unleashing a reign of terror. When they actively use their mind-controlled powers, their irises or their entire eyes glow in different colours, mostly reddish-orange, but also green, yellow, violet, blue or pure white.
There are some story differences from the earlier adaptation. In this version, the children "paired off", but one of the children, David, loses his partner after she dies at birth. As a result, he shows human compassion while still resembling the other children and retaining some degree of psychic powers. This leads to him not fitting in well with the children. Their ruthless leader, Mara ("daughter" of a local doctor, Dr. Alan Chaffee; her mother, Barbara, commits suicide by walking off an ocean cliff), considers him less important due to his expression of emotions. Because of his childhood loss, he understands what the other children do not: pain. He and his mother (the local school principal, Jill McGowan) share a brief conversation about this, with David understanding that if he feels pain, he can understand others' pain also. When the other children experience pain, they simply use their powers to inflict the same pain on the adult responsible for the pain.
Soon it is revealed that there are other colonies of psychic children in foreign countries, but they were quickly eliminated because their "parents" realised that they were not human. The scientific team at Midwich quickly flees the town to escape the chaos. However, the lead government scientist, Dr. Susan Verner, is killed by the children after being forced to show them David's partner, the baby that was stillborn. Susan has secretly kept it so that she could perform an autopsy on it and study it. A mob of angry townspeople attempt to stop the children, but the latter use their powers to kill the leader of the mob, causing the other townspeople to flee quickly. The State Police and the National Guards are then sent out to kill the children, who instead hypnotize them into shooting each other in a chaotic gun battle.
In order to rid the town of the children, Alan devises a plan: to detonate a briefcase of explosives inside the children's classroom. By thinking of a brick wall, he is able to create a mental barrier and keep the presence of the bomb a secret from the children. Jill begs him to save David (because he is not like the others), and Alan agrees. He attempts to do this by asking David to leave the classroom to get his notebook from his car. Finally, Jill shows up, but the children stop her. David, angered by this, rushes to her defense and knocks Mara over. The children turn on David, but Jill rushes him from the building. At last, within a few seconds of the end of the bomb countdown, the children break through Alan's defenses, the explosives detonate, destroying the barn and killing everyone, including Alan.
Jill and David survive the massacre; she says that they will both move to a place where nobody knows them. The last scene is of David, riding in his mother's car, looking off into the distance.
, Village of the Damned holds a 30% approval rating from critics, with an average score of 4 out of 10. In 1996, the film was nominated at the 16th Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Remake Or Sequel.
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
-horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
directed by John Carpenter
John Carpenter
John Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...
. It is a remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
of the 1960 film of the same name
Village of the Damned (1960 film)
Village of the Damned is a 1960 British science fiction film by German director Wolf Rilla. The film is a fairly faithful adaptation of the novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham. The lead role of Professor Gordon Zellaby was played by George Sanders. This film was #92 on Bravo's 100 Scariest...
which is based on the novel The Midwich Cuckoos
The Midwich Cuckoos
The Midwich Cuckoos is a science fiction novel written by English author John Wyndham, published in 1957. It has been filmed twice as Village of the Damned in 1960 and 1995.-Plot summary:...
by John Wyndham
John Wyndham
John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris was an English science fiction writer who usually used the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his names, such as John Beynon and Lucas Parkes...
. The 1995 remake is set in the United States, while the book and original film were both set in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The film was marketed with the tagline, "Beware the Children."
It stars Christopher Reeve
Christopher Reeve
Christopher D'Olier Reeve was an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author and activist...
(in his last starring role before he was paralyzed in a riding accident a month after its release), Kirstie Alley
Kirstie Alley
Kirstie Louise Alley is an American actress known for her role in the TV show Cheers, in which she played Rebecca Howe from 1987–1993, winning an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award as the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1991...
, Linda Kozlowski
Linda Kozlowski
Linda Kozlowski is an American actress. She has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award.-Early life:Kozlowski was born in Fairfield, Connecticut to a Polish family...
, Michael Pare
Michael Paré
- Early life :Paré was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Joan, a homemaker, and Francis Paré, who owned print shops. He had six sisters and three brothers. Paré's father was of French-Canadian ancestry and his mother of Irish ancestry....
, Mark Hamill
Mark Hamill
Mark Richard Hamill is an American actor, voice artist, producer, director, and writer, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy of Star Wars. More recently, he has received acclaim for his voice work, in such roles as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, Firelord...
and Meredith Salenger
Meredith Salenger
Meredith Dawn Salenger is an American actress identified by her performances while a teenager. Her best known role was the title role in the 1985 Disney film The Journey of Natty Gann.-Early life and career:...
. The remake stands out from the original due to its incorporation of graphic violence, with depictions of such things as a man falling asleep on a barbecue grill and a woman eviscerating
Disembowelment
Disembowelment is the removal of some or all of the organs of the gastrointestinal tract , usually through a horizontal incision made across the abdominal area. Disembowelment may result from an accident, but has also been used as a method of torture and execution...
herself with a scalpel while under the children's psychic
Psychic
A psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
control.
Plot
The quiet coastal town of Midwich, California, is invaded by an unseen force which leaves ten women mysteriously pregnant. Nine months later, the babies are born simultaneously on one night, except for one which is stillborn. At first, they all appear to be normal, but it does not take the parents long to realize that their children are anything but normal. As they grow older, the children are shown to have pale skin, platinum-white hair, fierce intellect and steely, cobalt eyes. The emotionless children display eerie psychic abilitiesPsionics
Psionics refers to the practice, study, or psychic ability of using the mind to induce paranormal phenomena. Examples of this include telepathy, telekinesis, and other workings of the outside world through the psyche.-History and terminology:...
and remarkable powers, which they use with deadly consequences, unleashing a reign of terror. When they actively use their mind-controlled powers, their irises or their entire eyes glow in different colours, mostly reddish-orange, but also green, yellow, violet, blue or pure white.
There are some story differences from the earlier adaptation. In this version, the children "paired off", but one of the children, David, loses his partner after she dies at birth. As a result, he shows human compassion while still resembling the other children and retaining some degree of psychic powers. This leads to him not fitting in well with the children. Their ruthless leader, Mara ("daughter" of a local doctor, Dr. Alan Chaffee; her mother, Barbara, commits suicide by walking off an ocean cliff), considers him less important due to his expression of emotions. Because of his childhood loss, he understands what the other children do not: pain. He and his mother (the local school principal, Jill McGowan) share a brief conversation about this, with David understanding that if he feels pain, he can understand others' pain also. When the other children experience pain, they simply use their powers to inflict the same pain on the adult responsible for the pain.
Soon it is revealed that there are other colonies of psychic children in foreign countries, but they were quickly eliminated because their "parents" realised that they were not human. The scientific team at Midwich quickly flees the town to escape the chaos. However, the lead government scientist, Dr. Susan Verner, is killed by the children after being forced to show them David's partner, the baby that was stillborn. Susan has secretly kept it so that she could perform an autopsy on it and study it. A mob of angry townspeople attempt to stop the children, but the latter use their powers to kill the leader of the mob, causing the other townspeople to flee quickly. The State Police and the National Guards are then sent out to kill the children, who instead hypnotize them into shooting each other in a chaotic gun battle.
In order to rid the town of the children, Alan devises a plan: to detonate a briefcase of explosives inside the children's classroom. By thinking of a brick wall, he is able to create a mental barrier and keep the presence of the bomb a secret from the children. Jill begs him to save David (because he is not like the others), and Alan agrees. He attempts to do this by asking David to leave the classroom to get his notebook from his car. Finally, Jill shows up, but the children stop her. David, angered by this, rushes to her defense and knocks Mara over. The children turn on David, but Jill rushes him from the building. At last, within a few seconds of the end of the bomb countdown, the children break through Alan's defenses, the explosives detonate, destroying the barn and killing everyone, including Alan.
Jill and David survive the massacre; she says that they will both move to a place where nobody knows them. The last scene is of David, riding in his mother's car, looking off into the distance.
Main cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Christopher Reeve Christopher Reeve Christopher D'Olier Reeve was an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author and activist... |
Dr. Alan Chaffee |
| Kirstie Alley Kirstie Alley Kirstie Louise Alley is an American actress known for her role in the TV show Cheers, in which she played Rebecca Howe from 1987–1993, winning an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award as the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1991... |
Dr. Susan Verner |
| Linda Kozlowski Linda Kozlowski Linda Kozlowski is an American actress. She has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award.-Early life:Kozlowski was born in Fairfield, Connecticut to a Polish family... |
Jill McGowan |
| Michael Paré Michael Paré - Early life :Paré was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Joan, a homemaker, and Francis Paré, who owned print shops. He had six sisters and three brothers. Paré's father was of French-Canadian ancestry and his mother of Irish ancestry.... |
Frank McGowan |
| Meredith Salenger Meredith Salenger Meredith Dawn Salenger is an American actress identified by her performances while a teenager. Her best known role was the title role in the 1985 Disney film The Journey of Natty Gann.-Early life and career:... |
Melanie Roberts |
| Mark Hamill Mark Hamill Mark Richard Hamill is an American actor, voice artist, producer, director, and writer, best known for his role as Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy of Star Wars. More recently, he has received acclaim for his voice work, in such roles as the Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, Firelord... |
Reverend George |
| Thomas Dekker Thomas Dekker (actor) Thomas Alexander Dekker is an American film and television actor and a musician. He is also a singer and has written and produced two albums. He is best known for his roles as John Connor in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Nick Szalinski on Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, and Zach... |
David McGowan |
| Lindsey Haun Lindsey Haun Lindsey Haun is an American actress and singer. She was nominated for a Young Artist Award for her role in the 2000 Disney Channel original movie The Color of Friendship as Mahree Bok, and has starred in the film Broken Bridges, for which she also recorded a portion of the soundtrack.- Personal... |
Mara Chaffee |
Reception
Based on 30 reviews collected by Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, Village of the Damned holds a 30% approval rating from critics, with an average score of 4 out of 10. In 1996, the film was nominated at the 16th Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Remake Or Sequel.