Love story masquerading as a thriller

Rating: 5/10 (1 August 2004)

I loved "The Sixth Sense." I liked "Signs" even though it was full of plot holes and really stretched common sense to the breaking point. But I didn't care much for Night's latest "thriller."
"The Village" is a love story set in what appears to be the late 18th or early 19th century. It is about a group of commune dwellers who have escaped the brutality and depravity of "the towns."
What it wants to be is a thriller. But it was a big disappointment in that arena. The creatures, "Those whom we do not speak of," although the villagers speak of little else, play only a minor role in this film.
It begins to get a little interesting during the last 30 minutes of the movie, but the surprise ending, although a fairly clever concept, doesn't really work. It was disappointing, given all the hype.
I gave it a 5.