Product Description: A truce kept between the inhabitants of a small community in Pennsylvania, circa 1890, and the creatures that live in the woods surrounding it is threatened when a young man is determined to explore beyond the boundaries of the village. Genre: Suspense Rating: PG13 Release Date: 13-DEC-2005 Media Type: DVD
Amazon.com: Even when his trademark twist-ending formula wears worrisomely thin as it does in The Village, M. Night Shyamalan is a true showman who knows how to serve up a spookfest. He's derailed this time by a howler of a "surprise" lifted almost directly from "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim," an episode of The Twilight Zone starring Cliff Robertson that originally aired in 1961. Even if you're unfamiliar with that Rod Serling scenario, you'll have a good chance of guessing the surprise, which ranks well below The Sixth Sense and Signs on Shyamalan's shock-o-meter. That leaves you to appreciate Shyamalan's proven strengths, including a sharp eye for fear-laden compositions, a general sense of unease, delicate handling of fine actors (alas, most of them wasted here, save for Bryce Dallas Howard in a promising debut), and the cautious concealment of his ruse, which in this case involves a 19th-century village that maintains an anxious truce with dreadful creatures that live in the forbidden woods nearby. Will any of this take anyone by genuine surprise? That seems unlikely, since Emperor Shyamalan has clearly lost his clothes in The Village, but it's nice to have him around to scare us, even if he doesn't always succeed. --Jeff Shannon
The Village DVD DVD was perfect as described. I am pleased with my purchase and will buy from again. Thank you.
Not Shyamalan's Best (spoilers) I feel that Shyamalan has missed for the first time for me. I am tired of people complaining about the ending. They say it's no longer scary. But if you think about it, The Sixth Sense is no longer scary at the end because we have been following a ghost and know ghosts don't want to harm, rather they just want to be helped. The problem with this one is that he has taken an idea that has already been used and never admitted it. The book was called Running Out of Time where a girl is in a village and needs to go get medicine, but when she leaves she discovers she is in present time. It is done differently, but nonetheless it's the same idea. Very disappointing to see Shyamalan do that. I do understand the metaphor, which is a beautiful message, but I don't like him taking ideas. The directing is great and when watching it you really feel like you are in the setting of the film. I would recommend people to watch it, but don't expect it to be a great Shyamalan film.
Amazing! M. Night Shyamalan is the master!
This movie is excellent! As every M. Night movie is. Great characters, great acting and a unusual, never been done before story!
Never pass up the chance to see a M. Night Shyamalan classic!
wonderfully mysterious story of an isolated community This story takes place in a simple town, with very complex characters. Their world is somehow precarious, though what precisely threatens them is a mystery to the viewer and indeed to most of the inhabitants. They seem to be a 19C community, supported by religious rituals and a sense of danger at the unknown inhabitants of the surrounding forest. While there is a life beyond the forest of which they are all aware, they remain completely autarcic, indeed solipsistic in their references to themselves and their pasts.
The acting is so good that the siuation of the characters is entirely believable and at times deeply moving: there is the search for love and unfulfilled need, the desire to preserve an utterly unique culture, and the yearning of the young, who find incredible inner resources for the trial that awaits. The mood is consistant, mixing color, sound, and stunning visual imagery. Each scene is as complex as a portrait painting, with the expressions implying an entire world with quirky points of view.
The story unfolds as a kind of mythical journey that could go in any number of directions. I felt the need to learn what the secret was, and when revealed it is not a disappointing banality, but a complex psychological reality. This film is a great and subtle gem.
Warmly recommended.
One of M. Knights better movies If you like 6th sense but did not like Unbreakable or Signs, you will probably like this.
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