There are certain films that I have nostalgic ties to, memories associated with them that may prevent me from being overly critical towards a certain film. One of those films was John Carpenter's Village of the Damned. I freely admit that the film is not one of Carpenter's best. But it is still one I enjoy a lot, in part because I distinctly remember going with my Dad and my Brother to go see it at the local theater one spring evening while my Mom was out of town visiting family.
The Northern California coastal town of Midwich suddenly experiences a strange occurrence that causes every living resident and animal to suddenly lose consciousness. This event lasts for six hours and as soon as it started, it stops and everyone wakes up. Well, everyone who hasn't had the misfortune of been driving when it started, or in one grisly case, was grilling and subsequently fell asleep on said grill. The event has attracted the attention of Army Doctor Susan Verner (played by Kirstie Alley) and local physician Alan Chaffee (played by Christopher Reeve), who makes the alarming discovery that ten women in town, including his own wife, are all pregnant with the time they became pregnant dating back to the day of the black out. Soon, the children are born and all but one are healthy babies, with one coming out stillborn.
As the children grow, they begin to demonstrate incredible mental powers, including the ability to read minds and control the actions of others. Each one has white, silvery hair and they remain isolated from the other children moving around town, marching in a row with girls on one side and boys on the other. The lone standout is David (played by Thomas Dekker), who is the outcast of the group since the girl he was supposed to be paired with didn't survive. As a result, his development is different as he begins to gain human emotions while the others remain cold and calculating. This becomes a growing concern with the leader of the group, Mara (played by Lindsey Haun). Meanwhile, at the urging of David's mother Jill (played by Linda Kozlowski), Alan takes the post of teacher to the children because most of the other adults are terrified of the children. He tries to teach them something about humanity and caring for one another with little success and frequently butting heads with his own daughter, Mara. As it becomes clear that the children intend to conquer rather than co-exist and as the bodies of anyone that gets in their way begin to pile up, it becomes clear that a full scale confrontation between the two sides is inevitable.
I don't know if it's just the age I was when I saw the film for the first time or the fact that I saw it before the original film but I always kind of dug this movie. I'll be the first to admit that it's not a perfect movie, but it's got enough going on in it to make it entertaining and thought provoking. Pairing these cold, calculating and emotionless kids who may have these incredible powers but an inability to feel against normal humans and have them interact with one another creates some engrossing drama. The film has a strong cast, with Christopher Reeve as his usual stoic hero character gets a few juicy scenes to sink his teeth into when trying to talk with the children and find out if there is anything remotely human about them. Kirstie Alley gets to play a different character in this as a much more shady and slightly sinister character. Her character's interest in what is going on is mostly academic and wants to study the children. Linda Kozlowski gets some strong scenes as well as she recognizes pretty quickly that her son, David, is different from the rest and continuously tries to reason with him that he doesn't have to follow the other kids. They also found some great actors to play the children, especially Thomas Dekker as David and Lindsey Haun as Mara. Those two had the biggest parts and both nailed them wonderfully. Dekker is so wonderfully expressive especially as things progress and he does a great job showing David's growing discomfort with the other children's actions. Lindsey Haun in many ways has the tougher role having to portray the sinister and evil Mara, a character wise well beyond her years and she manages to create a genuinely chilling character, an impressive feat for an actress who was only nine years old at the time.
There is something about this movie that has stuck with me over the years. It's far from being one of John Carpenter's best films (although it probably has one of his best scores, which Carpenter co-wrote with Dave Davies). I can admit that freely. The film has a curious pacing and there really isn't much tension or suspense in the film. But the themes of humanity, compassion and empathy versus cold, emotionless, strictly intellectual beings and exploring who truly are the superior beings is an intriguing one and carries through the film's rougher patches. There are moments and scenes that stuck with me for the whole 21 years since the movie was released, so that has to say something for the film, right? I never owned the film on VHS and did eventually pick up the DVD when I found it in a bargin bin at Wal-Mart several years ago and was surprised how well I remembered it. I also more recently acquired the Blu-Ray released by Scream Factory because I was intrigued by the Special Features, which includes a documentary featuring both John Carpenter and several of the children now all grown up, which was a fascinating and fun watch. Re-watching it again for this review, I can see where people would criticize the film and they are valid points. But, I still enjoyed it and maybe even enjoyed it more now than I had in the past. So, there's that, at least.
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