Village of the Damned

Following Carpenter’s career during the 1990s is akin to riding a roller coaster as it plummets with breathtaking speed from the absolute pinnacle of expressive power – such as the awe-inspiring “In the Mouth of Madness” (1994), probably the best horror film of the decade – to the deep abyss of embarrassing mediocrity. Unfortunately, “Village of the Damned” falls squarely into that latter camp.

As flat as a made-for-TV movie and populated by a handful of inconsistent characters, this second adaptation of the sci-fi classic “The Midwich Cuckoos” (the first adaptation of Wyndham’s novel was directed by Wolf Rilla in 1960), comes across like a mediocre anachronism half-heartedly thrown together just to put food on the table.

The direction is nearly unrecognizable and even the soundtrack, generally a memorable hallmark of Carpenter’s best films, here is uncharacteristically bland and forgettable. The cast fails to shine. Christopher Reeve – in his final role prior to the terrible accident that left him confined to a wheelchair – gives a less-than-convincing performance in the role of a doctor, and Kirstie Alley seems to be trying to outdo the creepy children’s cynicism in a part that would have been perfect for Meg Foster.

As for those children, the greatest danger they pose is one of unintentional humor. Examples of that chuckle-provoking potential include their sparkly eyes that flit from one end of the color spectrum to the other and their robotic, pseudo-intellectual utterances (“If we coexist, we shall dominate you. That is inevitable. Eventually you will try to eliminate us. We are all creatures of the life force” or “So the question becomes… should you be allowed to live?“). And the addition of the little boy who learns empathy from the premature death of his future partner is a detail that’s best forgotten.