#60-D: THE VILLAGE (2004)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

3

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Yes, several times

BEST SEQUENCE

The scariest part is when Ivy runs into a "Those We Don't Speak Of" in the woods, but this is largely thanks to some effective camerawork. The actual tension is almost entirely deflated due to one of the movie's plot twists

BEST LINE

There aren't any. So instead, you get a Worst Line:

"Um, I'll cry quarts."

- To the best of my knowledge, this has not ever been an expression used in any country or any time period. So why would you write that, M. Night?!    

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

44%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"The Village is appropriately creepy, but Shyamalan's signature twist ending disappoints."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"A series of events tests the beliefs of a small isolated countryside village."

DIRECTOR

M. Night Shyamalan

MAIN CAST

Bryce Dallas Howard, Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver

THOUGHTS

• You'll have to take me at my word, I did not go into this viewing predisposed to hate The Village as much as I did. I've seen it several times before, including relatively recently, and I don't remember ever reacting so negatively to this movie's ridiculous contrivances. In fact, The Village even holds a small place in my heart as I believe it's the first horror movie I ever saw in the theatre, which is somewhat of a unique experience, being scared communally
• From here on out spoilers follow, as this was also one of the few times I was able to guess the twist ending during the movie - I surmised that it was actually taking place during present day, and not olden times. But it's telling of M. Night Shyamalan's reputation at that point in his career that I didn't make this conclusion based on any clues on the screen or deductions of logic; I just knew to expect a twist, and that was the only one I could think of
• However, it was also this twist that, on this viewing, drove me up the goddamn wall. So the village elders decided to establish a remote village, cut off from the rest of the world, to escape the violence and evil of modern society. Sure, I'm with you so far. In doing so, they decided to live in a simpler, less advanced way, similar to how people lived in the previous century? I'm fine with that too! Perhaps they saw technology or capitalism as contributing to the evils they were trying to escape from, and this way of living would also be necessary to stay isolated. But why, oh why, did the village elders think it was so important to not only pretend they were living in a different century, but to also (and this was what REALLY stuck in my craw) make the deliberate and conscious decision to change their style of speaking?! There was no one in the movie that needed to be deceived in this way, the elders all knew the truth, and everyone else was born and raised in the village. No, in fact, the only people being deceived were us, the audience. And frankly, M. Night, in a twist movie that's not playing fair. It also meant that Shyamalan, who's not a great writer of dialogue on the best days, was hamstringing himself even further with his abysmal attempts to make everything sound antiquated
• But that's not even the only twist that has a negative impact on the movie as a whole! Whatever scary moments there are to be found in this movie come from the appearances of "Those We Don't Speak Of," the creatures that keep the villagers out of the woods and confined to their community. On rewatch, though, the monsters are much less scary if we know they're just the elders wearing costumes. As mentioned above, there are still some effective shots which make good use of the camera's perspective and what we can see in the background (the early sequence in which "Those We Don't Speak Of" enter the village is also pretty effective), but this is definitely a movie that makes the biggest impact on first watch and doesn't really hold up to subsequent viewings
• Last logistical thing I'll gripe about: William Hurt allows (nay, encourages) his daughter, Bryce Dallas Howard, to venture into the woods to fetch medicine in order to save Joaquin Phoenix. The other elders are not on board because she may learn the truth about the world, or the world may learn the truth about them. You know how you avoid this dilemma, William Hurt? You either go yourself, or you send someone who a) already knows the truth and b) CAN SEE
• Speaking of Bryce, she manages to give the best performance. M. Night's terrible stilted dialogue sounds the least stilted coming out of her. On the other hand, the less said about Adrien Brody (fresh off of his Oscar win), the better
• Looking forward, I feel like I'm still going to have conflicted feelings about this movie. There are glimmers of goodness, memories of enjoyable viewing experiences, still lurking in my mind! But something about this viewing broke all of that apart and I yelled at the TV a few times. I leave you with a quote from my wife, which I think sums it all up pretty well: "It is a good twist, regardless of how stupid it is"

Up next: If The Village was the beginning of his spiral, The Visit can probably be considered the start of his resurgence. It's The Visit, from 2015