Release Date: July 30, 2004 Studio: Touchstone Pictures Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Screenwriter: M. Night Shyamalan Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody,
William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver Genre: Drama, Romance, Supernatural, Thriller MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for scenes of violence and frightening situations) Official Website:
TheVillage.movies.com
Plot Summary: In M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village," the Academy
Award-nominated filmmaker, who brought you "The Sixth Sense" and "Signs,"
assembles an all-star cast, including Joaquin Phoenix and Sigourney Weaver and
Academy Award-winners Adrien Brody and William Hurt, to bring to the screen the
thrilling tale of an isolated village confronting the astonishing truth that lies
just outside its borders. At first glance, this village seems picture perfect, but
this close-knit community lives with the frightening knowledge that creatures
reside in the surrounding woods. The evil and foreboding force is so unnerving
that none dare venture beyond the borders of the village and into the woods. But
when curious, headstrong Lucius Hunt plans to step beyond the boundaries of the
town and into the unknown, his bold move threatens to forever change the future of
the village.
The Village will be a let
down for those expecting a suspense filled horror which the trailer, and its
director’s credits, seem to indicate. It seems writer and director M. Night
Shyamalan has run out of ways of dexterously executing a thriller, his latest is a
misfire if indeed the intention was to even produce a thriller. His typical
“twist” ending is a hit for a while but what has come before it is eerily
uninvolving.....
Feudalistic America is hardly a riveting
subject for America’s new master of suspense and director M.Night Shyamalan
certainly makes the most of this microcosm of entertainment, populating it with
terror, twists, and topicality.
His newest frightener deals
with a small village, surrounded by woodland, where deadly creatures stalk and
kill any man or animal that dares to cross into their territory. The community is
lead by a group of elders (including William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver and Brendan
Gleeson) who strive to maintain a peaceful symbiosis with these deciduous dwelling
animals. They achieve this feat by removing any objects bearing the colour red and
maintaining a ring of fire around the bounds of this hinterland....
