John Carpenter‘s Village of the Damned first premiered in theaters in 1995, and horror movie children still haven’t been quite as creepy ever since.
A remake of the 1960 film of the same title, Carpenter was eager at the time to take the project on as he had been a fan of the original since his own childhood. “It stuck in my mind for several reasons. The whole idea of a whole town blacking out was ‘Wow!’ Also, I somehow got this incredible crush on one of the girls in the original,” the remake director says of the original movie.
Of course, with Carpenter’s involvement, the new version is much darker than the previous Village of the Damned from 1960, with Carpenter modernizing the story and adding more graphic death scenes. The basic plot remains the same, depicting a mysterious group of children terrorizing a small California town with their abilities to read minds and make adults harm themselves in unnecessarily violent ways. Those who’ve seen the film can certainly never forget how those kids’ eyes glow brightly whenever they’re about to take another victim.
A truly bright aspect of this movie lies in its cast. The child actors, which include Thomas Dekker and Lindsey Haun, are very effective in the film, making the kids in Village of the Damned among cinema’s creepiest children of all time. Kirstie Alley does well here as a doctor, and featured in a rather memorable role is the always-amazing Mark Hamill as the local minister.
Of course, Superman star Christopher Reeve shines in the lead role as the town doctor. However, the film sadly serves as Reeve’s final theatrical movie before his life-altering accident in 1995.
Something else that makes Village of the Damned special is that it ranks high as a great example of a horror remake done well. By 2020, horror fans have seen nearly every film of the genre from years past get some kind of updated remake. Sometimes, this can bring about disastrous results, but a handful of remakes wind up just as good as the original film (if not better).
Carpenter’s Village of the Damned should always be a part of the conversation when talking about these kinds of remakes, and even a quarter-century past its release, the film still holds up very well to this day.
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While we’re discussing Village of the Damned, here are a few more fun facts about the classic film…
- The films are based on a book called The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham.
- Original Village of the Damned director Wolf Rilla and his wife visited the set.
- Three fully animatronic infants were featured in a deleted scene.
- Greg Nicotero of The Walking Dead and Shudder’s Creepshow fame worked on the film’s makeup effects.
- In the film, John Carpenter has a cameo as a man using a payphone.
- The story was spoofed on a classic episode of The Simpsons.
Happy 25th to John Carpenter’s Village of the Damned!
