# The Village (2004) - Don't go there!



## scalem X (Sep 1, 2004)

I don't know if it's old news in England or US or wherever you people live but it really sucks.

There are the full 2 scary scenes and a lot of mistakes/bad filming.

I don't know what sort of movie it was but it wasn't horror (if someone is sliced, hacked or chain sawed in 2 pieces I call that movie horror), it wasn't a thriller (2 scary scenes??? Well the scenes weren't even scary, it was just the music)


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## angrybuddhist (Sep 4, 2004)

It's not one of M. Night's better movies, but I thought the acting of Ron Howard's daughter (I can't remember her name) was superb.


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## scalem X (Sep 4, 2004)

Ivy the blind girl?? Well her acting was doable.


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## angrybuddhist (Sep 4, 2004)

scalem X said:
			
		

> Ivy the blind girl?? Well her acting was doable.


I thought Bryce Dallas Howard's acting and Ivy's character were the best part of the movie.


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## Brian G Turner (Sep 4, 2004)

I actually heard a decent report on this elsewhere - so if you look at the Village beyond the context of being a horror, would it work then?


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## angrybuddhist (Sep 4, 2004)

I said:
			
		

> I actually heard a decent report on this elsewhere - so if you look at the Village beyond the context of being a horror, would it work then?


Not in my opinion.  M. Night's movies always contain a surprise at the end, and you can see this one coming a mile away.  The movie is visually attractive and some of the acting is above par, but it's not scary and the "surprise" just doesn't work.  It would be worth renting the dvd when it comes out, though.


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## scalem X (Sep 4, 2004)

The idea was okay, but they made some damn mistakes/bad filming. Examples??

A village of about 80 people (counted them roughly at the scene when they had 1 light for 2 persons). They have food in brand bowls?? And no the etiquettes where not that old fashioned. Second if you happen to watch the movie there is a scene where they film a lettuce field with about 40 identical lettuces.

And the person above is right; you can see the point miles and miles before it actually happens. In fact I told the point to the person next to me within the first 30 minutes.


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## Seth God Of Chaos (Sep 9, 2004)

I havnt seen it yet so could someone save me $10 and tell me the twist


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## Brian G Turner (Sep 9, 2004)

Please clearly mark out spoilers before giving them!!


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## Jayaprakash Satyamurthy (Sep 27, 2004)

Bryce Howard's role and performance were definitely the highlights of the film for me. She has a good run ahead, if she picks the right roles. 

The movie? Well, I'm not a fan of gore or violence (although I will enjoy both in special cases), what I really look for is that brooding sense of suspense, something that does come though very effectively here. However, Shyamalan's script (if it's still him writing the scripts?) is hackneyed at best, and he needs to get over this twist-in-the-tale fication of his. There are fully two twists in this story, both of which thoroughly deconstruct the appearance of the story as any twist should, but there was something very dissapointing about them. One or the other would have been enough for me, but taken together it was just a cumulative effect of 'so what?' after having waited through some rather slow moving scenes. 

A pity, really. There's some wonderfully atmospheric footage here, and some decent acting. Nevertheless, this movie does nothing to challenge Midwich's position as the creepiest village ever depicted in a film.


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## Morning Star (Sep 29, 2004)

No offense to fans of his, but Night still thinks he can ride off the success of Sixth Sense. I think it's time he expanded his horizons a bit and branch into territories other than "OMG teh tricky ending!" he has so much potential.


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## Dave (Sep 29, 2006)

I said:
			
		

> if you look at the Village beyond the context of being a horror, would it work then?


I did rent this on DVD, and I only expected it to be 'horror' because it said so on the DVD. I think it does work if you don't expect it to be horror.





			
				angrybuddhist said:
			
		

> M. Night's movies always contain a surprise at the end, and you can see this one coming a mile away.  The movie is visually attractive and some of the acting is above par, but it's not scary and the "surprise" just doesn't work.  It would be worth renting the dvd when it comes out, though.


I knew there was going to be no monsters, but I still didn't guess everything. I'm not sure the surprise doesn't work. It depends which surprise you mean:-



Spoiler



That the wood was a nature reserve with no overflying aircraft - I wouldn't have guessed that.
That the crazy guy was dressing up and killing the pigs - not sure he had the intelligence to do that, or to escape from the locked house even.
That the people had got together long time ago and formed the village with the stories of monsters - well yes that became more obvious with every passing minute of the film.


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## ScottSF (Sep 30, 2006)

loved this movie. Better than 6th sense actually.


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## Lacedaemonian (Sep 30, 2006)

Thought it was a beautiful movie. The twists were fairly obvious and added nothing to the film.  His films are becoming a bit repetitive now.


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## Ozymandias (Sep 30, 2006)

It was like  a two hour Twilight Zone episode. I quite liked it but I have low standards for movies. I can watch just about anything.


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## Teir (Sep 30, 2006)

good film and visually very beautiful


> so if you look at the Village beyond the context of being a horror, would it work then?


 
most surely 
If you want huge horror then its not for you. Academically its a great study of human nature


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## steve12553 (Sep 30, 2006)

Teir said:
			
		

> good film and visually very beautiful
> 
> 
> most surely
> If you want huge horror then its not for you. Academically its a great study of human nature


 
Kinda like going to see "*Stand by Me*" expecting it to be a typical Stephen King flick.


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## Lacedaemonian (Sep 30, 2006)

Ozymandias said:
			
		

> I quite liked it but I have low standards for movies. I can watch just about anything.



I love this admission.  It has made my day.


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## infinite (Oct 16, 2006)

I really enjoyed it, but then I wasn't expecting a thriller/horror. If i had have been I would have been dissapointed!


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## Paige Turner (Oct 16, 2006)

It was a great twist. I never suspected that there would be a time machine in the woods.


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## Shoegaze99 (Oct 17, 2006)

steve12553 said:
			
		

> Kinda like going to see "*Stand by Me*" expecting it to be a typical Stephen King flick.


Indeed it is.

But then, when people set their expectations badly, they're bound to react badly when their expectations are not met.

The Village was a wonderfully shot, well-acted look at a group of people who decided to remove themselves from the modern world, thinking they could spare their children the pain they themselves endured. Far, far from "horror," and not really a "twist" movie - there are _several_ twists, and none are the "last second shocker" kind of twist people make them out to be - it is instead a look at a group of people who go to elaborate lengths to capture their idealized notion of a simple life.

It was not as good as Unbreakable, was on par with Signs, and is better than The Sixth Sense. People just don't give this film the credit it deserves, especially when they're too busy harping over the "twists."


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## Omega (Oct 21, 2006)

I remember seeing a spoof documentary with M Night. He was such a good sport in that documentary.


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## The Pelagic Argosy (Oct 23, 2006)

Spoilers...





I think my problem with The Village was that I saw Signs first.  All the way through Signs I was wondering "OK, what's the twist?"  And it turned out that everything was real.  And just when you think it's over, then it gets _really_ scary.  I thought the part where you see the reflection of the alien in the TV screen was really cool.  (I saw it on video, but I bet it was even more effective on the big screen.)

Later, I saw The Village, and I was expecting something similar.  But it was the opposite of signs.  The scary scene is at the beginning.  The twist is that everything is fake.  The fact that the monsters were fake was revealed far to early in the movie.  There was the twist about the village itself being fake, but by then I was so disappointed that I didn't care.  

But both movies are still better than anything I've ever written.


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## Princess Ivy (Oct 23, 2006)

i was bored. sorry to say. the story was 'beautifully crafted' acording to some reviewer or other, which in my book must mean painfully dull. 
bleh! motto of the story, never buy a film till you know that it's a good un!

ps.... i've now got a copy of the villiage to offload, sigh.


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