The Village (2004)

In recent years, M Night Shyamalan's reputation has taken a serious beating, having directed universally panned Razzy films (such as The Last Airbender and The Happening), and even some recent successes (Split, Glass) haven't been enough to salvage his career. However, slightly earlier in his directorial filmography sits this genuine horror-mystery masterpiece, criminally underrated and judged undeservedly.

The Village is a different take on a horror trope, detailing an isolated community's resolve against a hidden threat in the surrounding forest. As this genre goes, the cast does not get any better: Sigourney Weaver, Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody and Brendan Gleeson all feature prominently, as well as relative unknowns Jesse Eisenberg and Dallas Bryce Howard in some of their earlier roles. All are individually excellent and well-cast, perfectly depicting the repressed fear of a society without outside influences.

The plot of is consistent and of genuine quality, which doesn't often translate in the horror genre; however, do not be dissuaded by the premise of horror - The Village plays more off the resulting drama than cheap jump scares, and slow burns until the revelations in the second half blow the script open. The forest village is the ideal setting for this hidden evil, sparsely populated and somewhat bleak - the integral use of red and yellow elevate the cinematography further, making the environment more distressing.

The Village should be a must-watch purely on the merit of the plot: some may not connect with the subtleties of the script and the nuances of the story, but those who take the time to invest will be thoroughly rewarded with a quality film.

Fmovies: The Village is a clever and literate movie. I know it has received a number of negative reviews. However this is to be expected as Mr Shyamalan has had some popular success and is therefore fair game to "critics".

There is a twist at the end, of course. And if you apply a little thought you can probably work it out. It took my 14 year old son and I 95 minutes to get it! There are some genuine surprises in it, but they are delivered under hand and make you go "ah" rather than "Argh".

It's essentially a love story, with some great performances, especially from Bryce Howard.

Watch it and enjoy.

The film The Village, was quite unfortunately Mal advertised, this being in Greece of course. Instead of showing the ingenuity of the plot and the sort utopia created, it depicts a cheap horror story. This accomplished two very inopportune things. Firstly it attracted quite a unimaginative unintelligent crowd of people, who were, of course, displeased by the outcome of the story. Secondly it didn't allow the more imaginative more interpretive crowd to enjoy the quite complacent plot and Walden Two like utopia ultimately falling apart the sole reason people never left the place was due to their fear of some unknown creature.It was well done, had a good group of productive actors and a very suspenseful plot and deserves better reviews than it is given.

The Village fmovies. I went to see M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village" today.

First things first... I won't even discuss a SINGLE aspect of the plot, here, so you can read this safely. I will say this: If you plan to see the movie, do not read a single review (besides mine!). As with most of Shyamalan's films, the less you know about the plot going in, the better.

As far as the quality of the film... it is solid. Beautifully directed, well acted, dramatic, scary, sometimes funny, and with some great plot twists. It is not as good as "The Sixth Sense", but it's probably not fair to keep comparing Shyamalan's work to his first big hit, one of the best psychological horror films ever made. A director could work his entire career and never make a SINGLE film as good as "The Sixth Sense", let alone recapture that movie's amazing brilliance.

But, I hear you asking, is "The Village" better than "Unbreakable" and "Signs" (Shyamalan's second and third films)??? Well, that depends on what you thought of those films. Personally, I'd probably say that it is a better film than those two. At the very least it is more sophisticated, with stronger themes, a much bigger and better cast, and more subtle surprises than in those two films.

"The Village" continues Shyamalan's pattern of there being twists in the plot, but this time there are SEVERAL of them and they occur sporadically throughout the film... not one big one at the end. You WILL be surprised by the film, but don't expect to be bowled over.

I would describe this as his most subtle film, and also as more of a character study than a horror film. The characters here are very rich, and their interactions and relationships with one another are very rewarding in big and small ways. The acting is phenomenal, most noticeably by Academy Award winner Adrian Brody and Joaquin Phoenix. But first time actress Bryce Dallas Howard (Ron Howard's daughter), William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver all give solid performances as well.

"The Village" is a character study of how a community and individuals respond under pressure and fear. And while it has elements of horror, I'm not even sure I would describe it as a horror film.

But don't get me wrong, there are some real scary moments in the film... just don't go in expecting a roller coaster ride. While I was watching it, I kept thinking about some of the better episodes of The Twilight Zone that had a few thrills but left you thinking about human nature more than anything.

Go see "The Village", but bring someone with you.

This movie absolutely blew my mind. I grew up in a small village in Central Illinois. My village is on the map solely because of the Amish community which has established itself in the rural area around the town. "The Village" is reminiscent of all things strived for by the Amish community. Whilst ridiculed by many and misunderstood by most of the rest, the Amish and the community in "The Village" long for the same things: a return to simpler times when the good in life was much more prolific. Although it could be argued that the members of the village have their ideals based upon and rooted in fear, that doesn't differ drastically from many ideals held throughout the world. The negative aspects of our ideals may not be as obvious and spelled-out to us like those of in "The Village," but they remain similar none-the-less. "The Village" is a real thinker's movie and I commend M. Night Shyamalan for another remarkable movie. I can't wait to see what's next.

It is very sad to see such a beautiful movie being so underrated, I believe the problem with it is that it was promoted as a horror film, this was a huge mistake because it attracted the wrong audience. Horror film fans won't like this film that's for sure!

The village is a beautifully directed film, with wonderful cinematography & atmosphere, great performances (I loved Bryce Dallas Howard powerful performance and of course Joaquin Phoenix & Adrian Brody as well) and brilliant story! James Newton Howard's score fits perfectly with the film's atmosphere and is also very powerful & touching.

As a conclusion.. I believe Shyamalan is a great film maker and the Village is one of his best works, I highly recommend it!