All of the residents of a rural American village black out, waking hours later with ten of the women pregnant. Dr. Alan Chaffee (Christopher Reeve) informs the families that tests show the fetuses are healthy, and Dr. Susan Verner (Kirstie Alley), representing the government, offers them money to have the babies. However, after they are born, it is apparent that there is something seriously wrong with them. They all look alike, act alike, and have the power to control minds.
There are reasons to remake a film: If the first had a brilliant idea but flawed production; Or if social changes have made the original ineffective in getting across an important theme; Or if a new take on the material can create something different. None of these are the case with Village of the Damned. The 1960 version was a well done, little film, staring the always excellent George Sanders, thatâs withstood time. It isnât frightening, but I doubt it was in 1960.
John Carpenter, who so successfully put a new spin on The Thing (actually, he returned to the concept in the short story) brings nothing to Village of the Damned. This is the same old story, lacking the charm, and inappropriately undated to the ’90s. The time switch works against the story as the world isnât cut off enough any more; the people of Midwich appear less as rural folks and more like bizarre cultists, secluded with their unbalanced priest.
No attempt is made to show the kids sliding into their alien nature, giving some indication of why the âparentsâ would care for them. Rather, these children are so obviously evil that itâs absurd that the townspeople would live normally with them. Strangely, everyone states that the children have no emotion, including the children themselves. But they are extremely emotional kids, who are constantly in a bad mood and become angry at almost everything.
Shoddy work dots the film. Repeatedly, someone is set to kill a child, and then pauses for no reason, giving enough time for the children to use their mental powers. Dr. Chaffee uses an ocean view as a means of self-hypnosis to defend against mind reading, but switches to a brick wall because thatâs what was used in the 1960 movie. Dr. Verner is part of some shady government program, but it doesnât do anything and is never explained.
Village of the Damned is an unnecessary and ill-conceived adaptation of a superior picture. Skip this and see the original.