Boredom sets in after about 20 minutes...

Rating: Null/10 (12 September 2004)

I really loved The 6th Sense. I can't remember anything about Unbreakable, so that one didn't make much of an impression I guess. I fell asleep when the aliens in Signs appeared to be, well, just that. So I can't say I'm a fan of Mr. Shyamalans general work, only of his first film. But the trailer of The Village looked really good! I love period films and I'm easily scared by unseen horrors that lurk in forests, so this one would surely entertain me! Think again...
***Major spoilers!***
The beginning was alright. Eerie howling coming from the woods scared the sh*t out of me and really seemed to set the tone for the rest of the film. But quite early in the film, when the monsters started to skin pets (and Sigourney Weaver tried to make everyone believe it was done by a coyote... sure, they pull the skin off neatly and leave the rest of the meat??), I became suspicious. Then I started to get annoyed by the villagers. They spoke in a silly, overly theatrical way, like they were acting in some Shakespearian wannabe play. Not convincing at all. And then there was the "all people from the outside world are evil, don't go to the Towns" thing. At this point, the villagers rapidly began to resemble a weird kind of sect, who obviously had something to hide and who tried to keep the outside world at a distance.
O, never mind those villagers, the monsters are still out there! What are they? What do they want? what do they look like? Tension builds and when the alarm bells rang and panic broke out when they came to the village, I was at the edge of my seat.
At this point Mr. Shyamalan in his endless wisdom decides to take all the tension away by showing you the "monster": a monster walking like a man, covered with silly porcupine quills and wearing red CLOTHING??
Wait a minute... If I add this information to those suspicious acting, extremely conservative village elders who hate the outside world....
Damn, I guessed the TWIST already!
Never mind, Mr.Shyamalan must have thought, we'll just keep the "plot" going and sent the poor blind girl into the scary woods to get help. Blind girl stumbles along and encounters.... a porcupine MONSTER! O no! Hey, wait a minute. That's not scary. They're FAKE, remember!
Cue plot TWIST #2: girl gets rescued by a guy in a modern CAR.... OK, I must admit I didn't see that one coming, but I also just couldn't care anymore since I was laughing uncontrollably since the "blind-girl-in-not-so-scary-wood-since-there-are-no monsters-and-she-knows-that" part.
Let's wrap it up, said Mr.Shyamalan. Obviously deranged girl is left by side of road (??), guy goes away to "sneak" some medicine from a cupboard (was the other ranger BLIND or something?), goes back with a ladder and helps the weird girl in the outdated dress back into the wildlife reserve. No questions asked. End credits.
O, and the other ranger helpfully mentions the fact that no aircrafts are allowed to fly across the wildlife reserve. So THAT'S why this group of weirdo's haven't been detected for the past 40 years or so... But what about foresters? And how did they get all the materials to build their lovely little village inside that wildlife reserve in the first place?
Never mind gaping plot holes, at least this film has some of my trademark TWISTS. Right, Mr. Shyamalan?
To sum it up: film delivers until the first "monster" is shown, after which most people will be able to figure out TWIST #1 quite easily. And as for TWIST #2. Could we care less by that time??
Boring, predictable and laughable after the first 20 minutes or so.
** out of *****