Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5731 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-01-31
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 107 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Even when his trademark twist-ending formula wears worrisomely thin as it does in The Village, M. Night Shyamalan is a true showman who knows how to serve up a spookfest. He's derailed this time by a howler of a "surprise" lifted almost directly from "A Hundred Yards Over the Rim," an episode of The Twilight Zone starring Cliff Robertson that originally aired in 1961. Even if you're unfamiliar with that Rod Serling scenario, you'll have a good chance of guessing the surprise, which ranks well below The Sixth Sense and Signs on Shyamalan's shock-o-meter. That leaves you to appreciate Shyamalan's proven strengths, including a sharp eye for fear-laden compositions, a general sense of unease, delicate handling of fine actors (alas, most of them wasted here, save for Bryce Dallas Howard in a promising debut), and the cautious concealment of his ruse, which in this case involves a 19th-century village that maintains an anxious truce with dreadful creatures that live in the forbidden woods nearby. Will any of this take anyone by genuine surprise? That seems unlikely, since Emperor Shyamalan has clearly lost his clothes in The Village, but it's nice to have him around to scare us, even if he doesn't always succeed. --Jeff Shannon

Special Features
BONUS MATERIAL: DECONSTRUCTING THE VILLAGE REAL ESTATE: The Release of "The Village" (3:30) SECRET PASSAGE: The Ending of "The Village" (5:30) LANDSCAPING: Mixing, Sound Design, Music and Editing for "The Village" (11:00) BRICK BY BRICK: The making of "The Village" (24:00) CORNERSTONES: Writing "The Village" (6:30) FOUNDATION: The Cast of "The Village" (10:30) DELETED SCENES (11:30) Introduced by M. Night Shyamalan Drill August’s Story Pre-Wedding Pipes NIGHT HOME MOVIE (3:15) PRODUCTION PHOTO GALLERY

Synopsis
M. Night Shyamalan's THE VILLAGE finds the renowned writer-director crafting a suspenseful story of a small community whose inhabitants are plagued by fear of the unknown forest that surrounds them. For years, they have kept a truce with mysterious creatures in the woods by vowing never to breach a clearly defined border. However, when a young man (Joaquin Phoenix) becomes determined to explore the nearby towns, his actions are met with menacing consequences. Shyamalan continues his remarkable streak of entrancing and entertaining thrillers (THE SIXTH SENSE, UNBREAKABLE, SIGNS) with THE VILLAGE. A meticulous filmmaker, Shyamalan displays his penchant for setting up a fascinating atmosphere in every aspect of the movie, from its distinctive color scheme to its intentionally genteel dialogue to its outstanding cinematography, courtesy of Roger Deakins. Renowned cast members Phoenix, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, and Adrien Brody are excellent, but the true standout is Bryce Dallas Howard (daughter of director Ron Howard), who embodies the heart of the film with her vulnerable but fiercely vital performance. Like Shyamalan's other movies, THE VILLAGE has a distinct twist that offers shocking revelations, but this film's overwhelming sense of menace is what is sure to resonate with viewers long after it's over.

Customer Reviews

The Village..That Nobody Knows About
On a scale of 1-10, 10 being good and 1 being utter s***e I give The Village a score of minus 6.
DO NOT WASTE TIME OR MONEY WITH THIS FILM!!!!!! I've made that mistake already so you don't have to.

The plot is wafer thin, you'll see the so called twist long before the end. By the time you've guessed what is going on stop the film and eject it because at this point you'll only be 5 minutes into the film and you can watch something else instead.

Predictable
From the outset this film had an interesting idea that had potential; unfortunately the execution seemed to waste the chance for what seemed the makings of a good movie. Shyamalan failed to live up to his earlier success in `The sixth sense' and I found the plot twists were predictable and unsurprising. The film has a kind of `Scooby-doo' adolescent feel to it (it starts off ok till "those meddling kids" go to investigate and discover it's a guy in a mask.)

The ending is a complete anti-climax too in which the director appears to milk it for all its worth. By this point I found myself willing something to happen so that I didn't feel I had wasted 107minutes of my life watching something that had already put the rest of my family to sleep. If you want an alternative to counting sheep before bed this is the film for you...

Village Or Prison?
The plot has been largely summarised in the other reviews and of course it is very difficult to comment on aspects of the movie without giving away the denouement.

A good, visually stunning movie with a compelling music score, but to be honest I saw the "twist" coming less than half way through. This type of story telling is very much "one shot" as with MNS's other efforts. Subsequent viewings are seen in a rather different context. In fact, I found myself railing at the Elders, in that no matter how much they may wish to preserve a way of life does that give them the right to with-hold medical treatment, deny children a sophisticated education or choice whether they leave the community or stay, etc? And if a criminal act has been committed then surely the person responsible is still culpable to the relevant authorities (unless they were planning to "suicide" Noah anyway)?

In fact, the more times I watch (and admittedly still enjoy) the movie, the more plot holes there are. I find I empathise rather less than with MNS presumed sympathy toward why the founders created the village and more to the suppressed rights of the residents. Besides, there is no way a community so small could be truly independent of the outside world, whatever the time period. Things break and need replacing, raw materials and equipment would need to be brought in etc. etc. Where did all those plush furnishings come from?

I think The Village is still superior to Signs (which was never quite the same after Scary Movie 3 lampooned it) or indeed Unbreakable. I hope it eventually gets a Blu-Ray release as the visuals would really benefit from a HD transfer but that doesn't mean you can quite overcome the implausabiliy of it all.