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Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Linda Kozlowski, Michael Paré, Meredith Salenger ... see more see more... , Mark Hamill , Alice Barden , Steve Chambers , Roy Conrad , Ed Corbett , Constance Forslund , Squire Fridell , Michael Halton , Sharon Iwai , Peter Jason , Karen Kahn , Pippa Pearthree , Abigail Van Alyn , John Carpenter , George 'Buck' Flower , Darryl Jones , Julie Eccles , Lane Nishikawa , Thomas Dekker , Ron Kaell

This film is a remake of the classic 1960 science-fiction thriller, Village of the Damned, which was based on the novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham. Veteran horror director John Carpenter is a... read more read more...t the helm this time, with Christopher Reeve replacing George Sanders in the starring role. Aliens put the entire village of Midwich to sleep for 24 hours and impregnate many women. Reeve plays Alan Chaffee, the town doctor, whose wife Barbara (Karen Kahn) is one of the women carrying an alien baby. Visiting scientist Dr. Susan Verner (Kristie Alley) is monitoring the situation for the government. She supervises a mass birthing in a barn. The children turn out to be white-haired, glassy-eyed, and telepathic. Their plan is to use their supernatural powers to kill the villagers and help the aliens take over, and only Chaffee and Verner can stop them. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

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35% liked it

34,715 ratings

Critics

30% liked it

30 critics

R, 1 hr. 39 min.

Directed by: John Carpenter

Release Date: April 28, 1995

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DVD Release Date: December 15, 1998

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Stats: 1,036 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,036)

  • TheDudeLebowski65
    April 30, 2012
    TheDudeLebowski65
    The remake of the classic film is mediocre to say the least. The 1960 Wolf Rilla horror classic has been remade by John Carpenter. Given the fact that Carpenter helmed this remake, you'd think the film would be a decent remake. Well, it almost is. Unfortunately with most remakes,... read more this film shows exactly what's wrong with remaking classic films. Even if it's directed by horror maestro John Carpenter, Village of the Damned is an exercise in mediocrity. John Carpenter has always made great films, until know. With this remake, you can slowly see a great director losing his touch. I personally feel that John Carpenter should have focused more on writing his own horror film, instead of remaking a classic that didn't need to be remade. His efforts succeeded with 1982's The Thing; however this was not to be with this film. This remake is a valiant try, but the result is mediocre. This remake will surely disappoint the most die-hard John Carpenter fan. This remake is pretty bland, and quite unnecessary. Whatever made the classic film great is gone, replaced by a poor script and mediocre acting; this remake really doesn't cut it. The fact that John Carpenter directed this would make any horror fan think that the film is good. Well, it's watchable somewhat, but very much forgettable. The film lacks anything truly scary and it signals the beginning of the downward spiral for the great John Carpenter. I guess even the horror greats tend to lose their inspiration, this remake is proof of that. This could have been a better film, but falls short on many levels. Watch if you're a Carpenter nut, however keep in mind this is a mediocre film.
  • blkbomb
    October 11, 2011
    blkbomb
    Mara Chaffee: Life is cruelty. We all feed on each other, exploit each other in some way to survive. 

    "Beware the Children"

    Village of the Damned is an interesting, if not totally satisfying, film. Carpenter remakes a 1960 film of the same name that I am not familiar with. I do... read more have to say that for the most part I likes this movie. It has a strong first act that really got me into the movie. The movie tapers off a little as it goes, but I always remained interested, even with a lot of the ridiculousness that does ensue. 

    The whole population of a small town blackout at precisely the same time, for the exact length of time. When everyone was woken up and things go back to normal, they start to notice that a lot of the women are pregnant. The women are talked into having their babies by a doctor who wants to do research on them. The kids are born and it doesn't take long for their parents and the rest of the townspeople to realize that these little white haired fuckers aren't like the average human.

    The movie has some problems; a big one in Kirstie Alley, but only one really effected how much I liked the movie. That would be the pacing. The movie felt so rushed. Years would go by in seconds. The story didn't seem to really take hold of me as strong as I was expecting because the movie was in its final act before I really even noticed. 

    I thought the movie was extremely cool, mostly because of Carpenter's score and his solid directing. I thought there were some weird decisions, but that didn't completely take away from my enjoyment of the film. It isn't among Carpenter's best work, but it is still a solid little horror-thriller.
  • ajv2688
    June 6, 2011
    ajv2688
    A pretty good remake, it's got a good cast anyway. The story is as weird as in the first, but sort of brought up to date of course. Still, a remake was not needed, and this movie isn't all that great.
  • TheGame90
    November 2, 2010
    TheGame90
    Hmm...I'm not gonna say it was good...but it wasn't really bad. But face it....you can't beat The Bloodening. One of the kids was a good actor...
  • cancercapricorn2002
    July 3, 2010
    cancercapricorn2002
    Village of the Damned starts one ordinary day in the small American coastal town of Midwich where at precisely 10 O'clock in the morning every living thing faints into unconsciousness. News of the strange phenomenon quickly spreads & government agent Dr. Susan Verner (Kirstie All... read moreey) is there giving out orders before anyone knows whats hit them, everyone seems baffled as the area in which the strange occurrence has happened is clearly defined, very odd. Suddenly at six O'clock, four hours after the initial black-out, everything & everyone regains consciousness. However the oddness doesn't stop there as the local quack Dr. Alan Chaffee (Christopher Reeve) quickly realises that a large number of the female population of Midwich are pregnant including the local virgin (there's always one...), pregnancy's that stem from the day of the black-out. The months pass & the babies are born but as they grow into children there definitely seems to be something wrong with them & why are so many of the townspeople having 'accidents' & committing suicide...

    Directed by John Carpenter I thought Village of the Damned was an OK time waster but it didn't exactly knock my socks off. The script by David Himmelstein was based on the original Village of the Damned (1960) which I have seen & the first obvious difference is that it is now set in an American town & not an English village which was the setting that served the original so well. While the film moves along at a reasonable pace & isn't that boring as a whole I didn't think it worked, the character played by Kirstie Alley for instance seems only to be included so Capenter can use her whenever the need for some scientific exposition is called for even though the origins of the children are never really made clear although the script hints at aliens. Many of the other character's also feel surplus to requirements except to be killed off by the children for the most minor of reasons which never convince, I mean why make your mum put her hand in a pot of boiling water? Think about it, why? There's no reason whatsoever. It's watchable for sure, in fact when I think about it one reason why I may not have much love for this is because I've seen the original which this follows quite closely so the story wasn't particularly surprising & I sort of knew where everything was going.

    Director Carpenter has a few classic horror & sci-fi films to his name although I doubt Village of the Damned will be anywhere near the top of it. It's fairly ironic when you consider that Carpenter directed possibly the greatest remake ever when he helmed The Thing (1982) which was a brilliant retelling of The Thing from Another World (1951). Unfortunately the children themselves inspire bouts of laughter rather than fear, they look absolutely terrible with white hair & glowing eyes. The film lacks scares & atmosphere & is a bit flat.

    With a supposed budget of about $22,000,000 I was amazed when I found out, where did all the money go? It looks more like an average made-for-TV film than a 20 plus million Hollywood blockbuster. The acting is so-so, Village of the Damned is probably the only film where you will see Luke Skywalker & Superman together...

    Village of the Damned is an OK film, I didn't think much of it. The story would probably have made a better X-Files episode rather than a full length feature film.
  • ScoopOnline
    December 22, 2009
    ScoopOnline
    Honestly not a tiny bit creepy infact boring too. Was similar to Children of the Corn.
  • SirPant
    September 8, 2009
    SirPant
    Unfortunately this Carpenter remake of a classic wasn't as good as The Thing and marks the beginning of his decline. Shame as it has a brilliant cast!
  • superclerk25
    April 26, 2008
    superclerk25
    Creepy remake and the cast is really good. I dug this flick and the story is compelling.
  • puffchunk
    September 24, 2007
    puffchunk
    It has Luke Skywalker in it.
  • YosemiteSamFan
    August 18, 2007
    YosemiteSamFan
    A remake of the 1960 alien children movie, is semi-enjoyable. They've upped the horror effects when some of the adults are killed. The kids are genuinely creepy; the child actors put on chilling performances. It's nice seeing Christopher Reeve as their school teacher. John Carpen... read moreter's direction adds flavor to the story. His synth-score is great. It feels a bit unbalanced; probably because it's been done before better. It's less convincing that these kids could take over a whole town in the 90's. Not one of Carpenter's classics.

View All Village of the Damned Reviews

Critic Reviews

Rick Groen
April 12, 2002
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

There's nothing more static than a stalled fright vehicle. Full Review

Kevin Thomas
February 13, 2001
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

A good-looking, well-wrought film with some knockout special effects, some dark humor and crisp portrayals. Full Review

Richard Harrington
January 1, 2000
Richard Harrington, Washington Post

Carpenter, whose batting average is dipping dangerously low, shows no grasp of character development, plot line or time passage. Full Review

Peter Stack
January 1, 2000
Peter Stack, San Francisco Chronicle

A trip to a village of the darned tedious. Full Review

James Berardinelli
January 1, 2000
James Berardinelli, ReelViews

An enjoyable, if obviously-flawed, amalgamation of horror and science fiction. Full Review

Douglas Pratt
June 15, 2007
Douglas Pratt, DVDLaser

The story is set across a decade and would be easy to pick apart, but such activity would divert attention from the film’s chief asset, its general mood and atmosphere, which improves on multipl...

Alex Sandell
May 19, 2004
Alex Sandell, Juicy Cerebellum

John Carpenter's return to horror fizzles.

Luke Y. Thompson
November 28, 2003
Luke Y. Thompson, New Times

Not bad, but Superman deserved a better sendoff before his paralysis.

John Urbancich
November 5, 2003
John Urbancich, Sun Newspapers of Cleveland

Not even close to the original.

Fred Topel
July 14, 2003
Fred Topel, About.com

Surprisingly fun horror. Nothing new, but the coma was creepy and the telepathic kids were scary.

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  • What is the name of the village in 1960s "Village of the Damned"?  Answer »
  • Which book is the movie "Village of the Damned" based upon?  Answer »
  • What colour is the children's hair in "Village of the Damned"?  Answer »
  • Who starred as the main male actor in the 1995 remake of Village of the Damned?  Answer »
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