Village of the Damned (1995 film)

Based on the novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham, Village of the Damned is the story of a small town that is ravaged by mysterious children women gave birth to during following a strange blackout as they would try and control everything around them. Directed and co-scored by John Carpenter and screenplay by David Himmelstein, the film is remake of the 1960 horror film by Wolf Rilla as it is updated and set in Northern California as it play into a modern world ravaged by mysterious children. Starring Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Linda Kozlowski, Michael Pare, Thomas Dekker, Meredith Salenger, and Mark Hamill. Village of the Damned is a flat-out boring and terrible film from John Carpenter.

A small yet isolated town in Northern California goes into a strange blackout where everyone passes out with a few of its locals dead where ten of its women gave birth to children nine months later as their children have become these strange and controlling figures trying to kill those who threaten them. That is pretty much the premise of the film as a whole as it has a lot of mystique into what the locals are dealing with where a doctor, a school principal, and a government agent try to figure out what is going on. The film’s screenplay, which features un-credited work from Steven Siebert and Larry Sulkis, tries to maintain that air of mystique ends up with very little answers about the blackout and why these children act so strange and kill those who threaten them with only their eyes. At the same time, there is very little development with the locals with the exception of Dr. Alan Chaffee (Christopher Reeve), the school principal Jill McGowan (Linda Kozlowski), and the government agent Dr. Susan Verner (Kirstie Alley).

Yet, they’re given some awful dialogue while Dr. Verner has to give a lot of exposition that never makes a lot of sense as it relates to the blackout and these powers that the children have. Jill becomes attached to her son David (Thomas Dekker) who would begin to understand and express emotions unlike the other children who were born on the same day as well as conceived on the day of the blackout. David is stunted because he doesn’t have a mate like the other kids as his supposed mate is a stillborn child while the others have someone to latch on. It also makes them very dangerous as they would make the adults, who threaten them, to kill themselves. Unfortunately, the children are among the most uninteresting antagonists in the film as they just spout a bunch of very clinical ideas as the dialogue and such just makes it sound very idiotic.

John Carpenter’s direction has some nice visual moments that play into beauty of the locations as it is shot in Marin County in California. Yet, it never really does anything to engage the audience into the suspense as Carpenter just goes for something straight due to the lackluster elements of the script. The suspense never holds up as the moments where the children would have their eyes glow to make the adults harm themselves often comes across as forced. There are these moments of violence that are intense but it also comes across as cheesy where Carpenter is really hampered by the many shortcomings of the script. The compositions in the medium shots and close-ups has Carpenter try to flesh out the drama while creating moments that are simple in the way characters interact each other. Unfortunately, it would lead to these moments of suspense as its climax that involves police and the national guard trying to stop those children becomes this ridiculous bloodbath that is very lackluster. Overall, Carpenter creates a very uneventful and lazy suspense film about scary children wreaking havoc into a small town.

Cinematographer Gary B. Kibbe does nice work with the cinematography as it is mostly natural and sunny for some of the daytime exteriors in the locations while using some lights for the scenes set at night. Editor Edward A. Warschilka does terrible work with the editing as it is nonsensical at times to play into the suspense and action as well as having some odd transitions that really don‘t work. Production designer Rodger Maus, with art director Christa Munro and set decorators Rick Brown and Don De Fina, does fantastic work with the look of the town including the barn where the children would stay in the film‘s third act. Costume designer Robin Michael Bush does terrific work with the costumes as a lot of the clothes are casual with the exception of the children with their gray and white clothes.

Special makeup effects artist Rob Hinderstein and hair stylist Charlotte Parker do excellent work with the look of the kids from the white hair and pale skin as well as the creepiness of their presence. Visual effects supervisor Bruce Nicholson does fine work with some of the minimal visual effects for the blackout sequence as well as the scenes where the children‘s eyes glow. Sound editor John Dunn does superb work with some of the sound from the way the glowing eyes sound as well as some of the moments of chaos. The film’s music by John Carpenter and Dave Davies is pretty good with Carpenter providing a largely low-key synthesizer score to play into the suspense with Davies providing some blues-based guitars in the background.

The casting by Reuben Cannon, Peter Jason, Sandy King, and Cheryl Miller is decent with the actors they used though none of them really had any strong material to work. Small roles from Karen Kahn as Dr. Chaffee’s wife Barbara, Constance Forslund as Jill’s friend Gail, Peter Jason as Gail’s husband Ben, George “Buck” Flower as a janitor who doesn’t like the strange kids, and Pippa Pearthree as the reverend’s wife Sarah are among those who suffer from the script as do Michael Pare as Jill’s husband Frank who dies early in the film and Meredith Salenger as a young virgin named Melanie who would give birth to the stillborn child. Mark Hamill is miscast as Reverend George as a town minister that tries to maintain some calm as he too becomes suspicious of the children as Hamill tries to ham it up which doesn’t work.

The performances of Thomas Dekker and Lindsey Haun in their respective roles as the strange children in David and Mara are just horrible as they provide some very amateurish and unrealistic performances while their line-reading is just awful to hear as is the other child actors playing the weird kids. Linda Kozlowski is alright as Jill as a woman who loses her husband and is a mother to the boy David as she tries to see if there is any humanity in the children as she becomes attached to her son. Kirstie Alley is pretty good as Dr. Susan Verner as a government agent that knows about these events as she tries to see how to stop them but also become aware of their powers. Finally, there’s Christopher Reeve in a terrific performance as Dr. Alan Chaffee as a man that tries to talk to the children and see if there is any humanity in them as well as be one of the few who could out-think them.

Despite a few decent performances and some nice visuals, Village of the Damned is an atrocious film from John Carpenter. Due to its very poor script, lack of any meaty suspense, and too much exposition that becomes nonsensical. It’s a film that showcases a filmmaker phoning it in while never really do anything to make the story engaging. In the end, Village of the Damned is an awful film from John Carpenter.

Related: Village of the Damned (1960 film)

John Carpenter Films: Dark Star - Assault on Precinct 13 - Halloween - Someone's Watching Me! - Elvis - The Fog - Escape from New York - The Thing - Christine - Starman - Big Trouble in Little China - Prince of Darkness - They Live - Memoirs of an Invisible Man - Body Bags - In the Mouth of Madness - Escape from L.A. - Vampires - Ghosts of Mars - The Ward

The Auteurs #60: John Carpenter Part 1 - Part 2

© thevoid99 2016

Kaboom

When Gregg Araki returned to the film world following a five-year hiatus with 2004’s Mysterious Skin. The film became a surprise hit in the world of art house and indie theaters as Araki was back in a big way. In 2007, Araki made his most accessible and surprising film of his career in a stoner comedy called Smiley Face that starred Anna Faris. The film proved to be another surprise proving that the often controversial Araki could make a film that was entertaining. Following another break in trying to develop projects, Araki would finally return in 2010 with his first original project in more than a decade with the sci-fi comedy entitled Kaboom.

Written, edited, and directed by Gregg Araki, Kaboom tells the story of an 18-year old film student having a sexual awakening as he tries to find himself. Along with his other friends discovering their own sexual awakening, the film student would also have surreal fantasies featuring two different women leading to questions about a possible apocalypse. The film recalls Araki’s mid-1990s Teenage Apocalyse Trilogy of films that included Totally Fucked Up, The Doom Generation, and Nowhere but with a new, post-millennium sensibility. Starring Thomas Dekker, Haley Bennett, Juno Temple, Roxane Mesquida, Chris Zylka, Kelly Lynch, and longtime Araki-cohort James Duval. Kaboom is a witty, colorful sci-fi thriller/comedy from Gregg Araki and company.

Smith (Thomas Dekker) is an 18-year old film student confused about his sexual preference as he rooms with a hunky, blond surfer named Thor (Chris Zylka). Smith is bothered by a recurring dream he has featuring Thor, his mother (Kelly Lynch), and his lesbian best friend Stella (Haley Bennett) along with two women he doesn’t know. Already having a weird experience in college that includes a stoned resident advisor named the Messiah (James Duval). Things get weirder during a party where one of the women in his dreams is Stella’s new girlfriend Lorelei (Roxane Mesquida). He later meets a British student named London (Juno Temple) where the hallucinogenic cookies he ate has him seeing strange things including an encounter with the other woman (Nicole LaLiberte) in his dreams.

After getting a USB flash-drive in his coat pocket and seeing a strange ritual that involved the woman, later to be revealed as Madeleine O’Hara. Smith wants to know who she is as London reveals that she knows her from her sociology class. Smith would later have weird encounters with three animal-masked men as London reveals more news while Stella would reveal some strange things about Lorelei. At a nude beach, Smith meets Hunter (Jason Olive) whom he would have sex with while Stella is trying to break things off with Lorelei who is revealed to be a witch with powers. With London helping Smith out in the investigation while taking time to have sex with Thor’s friend Rex (Andy Fischer-Price), Smith gets a mysterious message that would about Madeleine’s missing body.

With Smith’s 19th birthday happening, he gets another weird message along with more sexual encounters with Hunter, London, and a surprise. The birthday gets more surprising as he attends a concert where he meets a young guy named Oliver (Brennan Mejia), whom he had been contacting and saw at a party weeks before. Still, Smith’s night gets stranger when he sees a woman who looked like Madeleine as he asks her questions. The night gets stranger when Smith and Stella would have their own strange encounters where Smith makes a breakthrough over what is happening. Even as London helps with an answer leading to a cult as it becomes clear that something is happening.

The film is essentially a genre-bending film that recalls not just Araki’s past teen-angst films of the 1990s but also his exploration with surrealism as it features clips from a couple of films by Luis Bunuel. Yet, the movie is about a young man’s sexual awakening as he encounters mysterious, surreal surroundings leading him to the discovery of a strange cult. Still, it’s a film where Araki gets to refine his filmmaking and his themes of sexual exploration and teenage identity. This time around, he doesn’t fuse it with a lot of pop culture references or cameos that sometimes become a distraction with his past work.

The story is interesting though uneven as the first half is this zany, free-wielding comedy with elements of sex and bits of suspense. The second half becomes more of a suspenseful, sci-fi kind of film with lots of ideas about cults. Still, Araki manages to make things engaging and also entertaining in the way he presents stories with stylized dialogue and dazzling sequences.

Araki’s direction is definitely as potent as ever as he is given more to do with his camera while creating scenes that are fun to look at. Even in creating sex scenes that are surreal from the viewpoint of its characters. Yet, Araki manages to create a lively world of college life that is about having sex, going to parties, and all of those things. Yet, the framing of the scenes along with the suspenseful, surreal moments he creates is definitely mesmerizing in its imagery. Despite the limited budget he has, Araki was able to create sci-fi moments that are very strange yet electrifying to watch.

Since it’s a largely stylized film that includes some weird transitional wipes and other stylized cuts to create something vibrant due to Araki’s work as the editor. Even as he creates a lot of intense moments for the film’s suspenseful scenes as it’s clear that Araki is becoming more confident as a director. While the film’s abrupt, what-the-fuck ending will definitely turn off a lot of people. It’s Araki’s way of subverting things since the film was to lead to a climatic ending as it does end things with a bang, literally. Whatever flaws the film has, it is proof that Araki is getting better as a director.

Cinematographer Sandra Valde-Hansen does a fantastic job with the film’s vibrant yet colorful photography. Notably in the party scenes where the lights are filled with dazzling colors mixed in with blue and pink while the nighttime scenes are exquisite in its haunting presentation. Valde-Hansen’s photography is definitely the film’s technical highlight for the way it allows the film to be stylized without over-doing it.

Production designer Todd Fjelsted, along with set decorator Kristen Rajterowski and art director J.B. Popplewell, does an excellent job with the film‘s art direction from the blackish look of the restaurant where the students eat to the parties they attend. The art direction and set pieces created for the film are amazing to look as it plays to Araki’s style. Costume designer Trayce Gigi Field does a spectacular job with the film‘s costumes from the big earrings that Stella wears to the 80s-like clothing that London wears. The costumes are fun to look at as its’ another of the film’s technical highlights.

Visual effects supervisor Wesley Cronk does some very good work with the minimal visual effects needed for the hallucination scenes as well as weird sex scenes involving Stella and Lorelei. Sound editor Trip Brock does a fine job with the film’s sound in capturing the atmosphere of the parties along with the climatic suspense scene towards the end of the film.

Music composer Robin Guthrie, along with Vivek Maddala, Ulrich Schnauss, and Mark Peters, does a wonderful score that is a mixture of shoe gaze, dream-pop, and ambient music. Notably in playing some of the dream sequences that Smith encounters throughout the film. Music supervisor Tiffany Anders helps create a diverse yet intoxicating soundtrack that features A Place to Bury Strangers, the Horrors, the xx, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, Friendly Fires, Metro Area, Airiel, Tears Run Ring, Cut Copy, Helen Stellar, Placebo, Explosions in the Sky, the Big Pink, the Depreciation Club, and Ladytron. The mixture of indie and electronic music is definitely amazing as with any of Araki’s films. The soundtrack and score is always a highlight of his films.

The casting by Jenny Jue and Johanna Ray is superb for the use of young actors needed as well as veterans. Small yet notable performances include Michael James Spall as a mysterious cult figure, adult film star Christine Nguyen as a girl Thor sleeps with, Carlo Mendez as a trailer for Smith’s mom, and Nicole LaLiberte as the mysterious Madeleine. Other notable small but memorable roles include Andy Fischer-Price as Thor’s surfer buddy Rex, Brennan Mejia as Oliver, Jason Olive as the nude-beach guy Hunter, and James Duval in a hilarious performance as stoner resident advisor the Messiah.

Roxane Mesquida is incredibly sexy and cool as the witchy yet mysterious Lorelei who seduces Stella and freaking her out. Chris Zylka is funny as the very attractive blond surfer Thor who often says silly, stupid things around Stella while is often impressed by Smith’s sexual appetite. Kelly Lynch is very good in a small role as Smith’s workaholic mom who is carrying a big secret about what is going on with him. Juno Temple is great as London, the British student who helps Smith in his journey to find out what is going on while having a great sexual appetite where Temple has a great monologue about how to perform oral sex on a woman.

Haley Bennett is excellent as Stella, Smith’s sarcastic arty friend who helps him out while dealing with her own strange encounters with Lorelei as Bennett gets to play cool. Finally, there’s Thomas Dekker in a superb role as the sexually-confused Smith. Dekker plays up to the character’s naiveté in his sexual exploration while learning about the dreams he’s having in relation to the strange things he is dealing with as Dekker does a fantastic job.

While it may not live up to the brilliance of Mysterious Skin or past films like The Living End and The Doom Generation. Kaboom is still a stellar yet entertaining film from Gregg Araki. Armed with a great ensemble cast that includes Thomas Dekker, Haley Bennett, Roxane Mesquida, Juno Temple, and James Duval. It’s a film that fans of Araki’s work will enjoy in its style and how he engages the characters in their situations. While it’s not a perfect film that has a very odd ending, it is a film that definitely plays with people’s expectations of a genre-bending film like this. In the end, Kaboom is a colorful, mesmerizing, and funny film from Gregg Araki.

Gregg Araki Films: (Three Bewildered People in the Night) - (Long Weekend (0’ Despair)) - The Living End - Totally Fucked Up - The Doom Generation - Nowhere - (Splendor) - (This is How the World Ends (TV)) - Mysterious Skin - Smiley Face - (White Bird in a Blizzard)

© thevoid99 2011