Beautiful complexity.

Rating: 8/10 (29 September 2004)

I am a self confessed Shyamalan fan. His story telling and directing are by far the best we've seen from a director in the past decade. The Village follows his magnificent 2002 film SIGNS, and like SIGNS, The Village is a 'Love it' or 'Hate it' film. As far as I'm concerned, everyone is entitled to their opinion and I'm obviously willing to accept that some people don't like it, but the people who dismiss it as complete rubbish are Simply not intelligent enough to cope with its beautiful complexity.
It is the late 1800's and deep, in the countryside, a group of settlers have set-up home in a makeshift village to get away from the hectic life of 'the towns'. The Village is surrounded on all sides by Forest. The community 'council' so to speak, named 'The Elders' are in charge of The Village and have discovered that the surrounding woods are filled with Mystical red-hooded creatures. Those who enter, do not return. Entering the forest is strictly forbidden to all residents of the village, but when it seems that the truce between the creatures and the villagers is ending, one man chooses to challenge the beliefs and enter the woods.
Joaquin Pheonix is that said man. He is one of my favourite actors and his skill at portraying his characters does not wain in this film. Bryce Dallas Howard plays a blind villager whom Joaquins character Lucius is in love with. He takes it upon himself to protect her at all costs.
Unlike SIGNS, THE VILLAGE is a lot more slowly paced as its story, as i have said, is rather complex and demands a lot of attention and therefore 'screentime'. When the horror does pop its head up, its horror of the greatest magnitude. The glimpses of 'the creatures' are really chilling and leaves the viewer very very nervous, like when your just waiting for a loud crash to break the silence and some sort of attack! I wont spoil it for non viewers but the creature design is brilliant and later in the film when we are treated to a full frontal of the creature with its head hidden in the darkness of its hood, i was genuinely frightened! Its as close as Psychological horror has got to making the viewer close his/her eyes and turn away in the same way as violent horror makes squirmish people do.
As for the 'TWIST', well that would be telling wouldn't it! Its the biggest best Shyamalan twist since The Sixth Sense and it really will leave you gobsmacked.....followed by huge discussions about its consequences with friends. I found myself feeling deeply sorrow for a particular character at the end, but you'll have to see it to understand what i mean.
The Village is classic Shyamalan but with the emphasis on the story. Its how 'Horror' should be done and its another reason for me to follow his future works. Maybe you'll love it, and maybe you'll hate it, but you HAVE to see it!