| Re: .3
Well, then, how about I provide the review?
"Village of The Damned" is a remake of a 1960 sci-fi/horror movie by
the same name. It's based on a story called "The Midwich Cuckoos" (I
think).
Midwich has moved from England to what is apparently the coast of
California. One day the townspeople are preparing for a school bazaar
when a strange noise is heard. It sounds like a lot of voices talking
all at once. Suddenly, all the people and animals in the town and the
immediately surrounding area are knocked unconscious. Christopher
Reeve, as the town doctor returning home, and Kirstie Alley as a
chain-smoking government scientist, arrive to investigate. The
unconsciousness zone persists mysteriously for awhile and then just as
mysteriously disappears. A few people who fell unconscious in awkward
positions are now dead. The town mourns. Life goes back to normal.
Shortly the doctor discovers that a number of women, including his
wife, are pregnant. So as not to spoil it (as if it could be spoiled)
suffice it to say that the babies turn out to be aliens with strange
mental powers, and they don't get along very well with humans.
No one really has a good part to play. Kirstie acts like she's doing a skit
on Saturday Night Live and you can tell she's having trouble keeping a
straight face. Christopher emotes "sad" and "worried" reasonably well. Mark
Hamill, foolishly imagining that he actually has a part, proceeds to
overact it. Michael Pare's name last longer in the credits than he does on
screen. Linda Kozlowski may have given the best performance of her
career, but I'm not sure, since I've never seen her before.
The special effects are nothing special. No doubt the director spent
most of his budget on useless stars. There are blond wigs, glowing eyes
and lots of explosions. At one point a truck runs into a fuel tank and
all one can think is: that fuel tank didn't belong there. They just put
it there to blow it up.
I remember liking the original, but it has been years since I last saw it.
I think it may have actually ended differently. I doubt anyone in the
theater actually cared how this one ended. We were all just glad it was
over.
John
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| This remake seems like a good reason to buy the book, The Midwich
Cuckoos" by John Wyndham. The book was great. I had hoped that
a modern remake would do better than this. But then, they made a
movie hash of one of his other books as well, "The Day of the Triffids",
another great read.
John Wyndham seems to have suffered the same fate as Stephen King --
a writer of exciting stories that make lousy films.
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