The Village
Plotline: The folks living in a small isolated village are forced to confront outside forces (horrifying beings from the surrounding forests) that are keeping them trapped there and have started to wreak havoc on their quiet community.
Scariness factor: The first half had a good, subtle creepiness going. Nothing "edge-of-your-seat" scary, but definitely eerie. Second half, not so much.
Originality: Can I just say--twist endings start to get tiresome and unoriginal when EVERY MOVIE YOU FILM has a twist ending. You hear that, Mr. M. Night? Yeah. I'm talking to you. Other than that, the idea of the movie was kinda fun and intriguing, but the end of the movie splatted that into oblivion.
Complaints: The second half of this movie is dumb. The twist ending, also dumb. PS. Who in their right mind sends their BLIND DAUGHTER to travel through a forest with two numbskull boys who are scared out of their wits? If I were her fricking father, I woulda been holding her hand the whole damn way. I mean, really. Also, how does a blind girl FIND her way through a goddamn forest with no markers, no ability to check what direction she's walking in by checking the sun and shadows and whatnot? This is a bit mind-boggling. *SPOILER ALERT: And finally, why in god's motherf-ing name would a mentally challenged character decide to don a cape and weird-creature suit and how would he track down aforementioned blind girl in the forest? I mean, really? Other than to further plot... /END SPOILER This is my big complaint in most of M. Night's movies--the way the logic of them very quickly begins to collapse in on itself.
High Points: As mentioned earlier, the beginning of the movie was nice and subtly creepy, kind of old-fashioned feeling. The acting was pretty decent as well, and I was intrigued by the mystery of what was happening, why, etc. I was even a bit suckered into the whole love-story dimension that opened up. But the ending/revelation of the mystery is super anti-climactic which ruined it for me.
Overall: It's by no means painful to watch. At worst it's slow and a bit contrived towards the end. Not a waste of an evening, but definitely not something that should be allowed into the Horror Movie Bible.
Grade: C
Labels: C movies
4 Comments:
oh shit Lauren. I thought this was one of the best films I have ever seen--on my list of top five films EVER.
We so need to talk about this one.
No shit?? Really? Yeah, then damn. We shall have a good conversation then. I am curious to hear what you liked so much about it.
I have to agree with your opening line: somebody needs to tell M. Night that he doesn't need to do a twist ending every time. I wish I could've experienced that, but some idiot spoiled it before I saw the movie.
As for the special guy putting on the costume, I think there was some explanation in the movie. When the creatures invaded the village and everyone was running around scared, he was laughing and clapping. I think he found the whole Those We Do Not Speak Of thing fun, and so thought it would be fun to do it too.
Anyway, you're right. I though it was a great movie until the twist ending. Why not have a village terrorized by creatures? Setting it in modern day spoiled it for me.
I've agreed with the majority of the reviews on this site, but I can't help but feel that you have picked this movie apart simply for the sake of doing just that.
Other than the repeated twists in his movies (which I completely give you) and the obvious 'what the Hell?' of her father letting her to through the woods on her own (she did have markers though, if I do recall correctly), this was overall a good movie.
The boy in the cape was explained. Everything was tied up in a neat little package at the end, so I can't complain about that. I really got the feeling that this movie was not intended to be scary, but more of something to make the viewer THINK. To draw you in and make you curious - for me it did it's job. I was overall pleased with the movie. Not one I would watch more than two or three times (knowing the end spoils it), but it was still a good movie.
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