1996 remake of Village of the Damned

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shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
No one is going to care, but I am going to say this anyway. The 90's remake of Village of the Damned is a good movie. It was panned when it came out because it was too creepy for non-horror fans but not gruesome or extreme enough for horror fans. It really is a straight remake of the classic British film and does not tamper with that blueprint too much. In fact, in some ways its better in that it explores the possibilities of the story more, it has better characterization, and it has vastly better visual effects and production. I would say its only flaw is that the story is slightly anachronistic when moved from a 60's English village to a midwestern town in the USA in the 90's. It is a terrific little movie. I think that if it wasn't a remake and it didn't have John Carpenter's name attached to it (which carries with it certain genre expectations), this movie would have been remembered very fondly. I recommend that anyone reading this go watch this movie and judge it on its own merits. Great performances, great setup, lots of good scenes, and a great climax.
 
Irvrobinson

Irvrobinson

Audioholic Spartan
I liked it too. Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Linda Kozlowski, and Mark Hamill. I've probably seen it five times or more.
 
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shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
I'm not a fan of horror movies in general, never was, but in case of remakes, typically they are rated lower.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054443/reference
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114852/reference
John Carpenter's remake of The Thing From Another World is considered a much superior film to the original, but when it first came out, it was critically panned as just a gross Alien clone. Now its reputation has grown so much that it is considered one of the best horror movies ever made. I think, in time, when the Village of the Damned remake is viewed with fresh eyes, it will be much better appreciated than it is currently. It has a reputation of one of Carpenter's duds, but I think it is one of his better films.
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
John Carpenter's remake of The Thing From Another World is considered a much superior film to the original, but when it first came out, it was critically panned as just a gross Alien clone. Now its reputation has grown so much that it is considered one of the best horror movies ever made. I think, in time, when the Village of the Damned remake is viewed with fresh eyes, it will be much better appreciated than it is currently. It has a reputation of one of Carpenter's duds, but I think it is one of his better films.
goes without saying that I'm unfamiliar with that particular masterpiece for reasons above, and I've also said "typically". there are exceptions.
https://screenrant.com/remakes-better-than-original/
 
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shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
goes without saying that I'm unfamiliar with that particular masterpiece for reasons above, and I've also said "typically". there are exceptions.
https://screenrant.com/remakes-better-than-original/
That list isn't actually that bad. Sometimes people assign to much artistic merit to a film merely because it influential or old. I can't speak for 12 Monkeys, Heat, True Lies, or Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, from that list, but the rest I agree with or at least understand the arguments for. I do like the original Man Who Knew Too Much, Scarface, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers more than the remakes, but I get why some people would prefer the remakes. To that list, I would add that many of the British Hammer horror films were better than the Universal Studios classics that they were remakes of, like Dracula and The Mummy (hell, I would take Brendan Fraser's Mummy over the Karloff version, though Karloff was a great mummy. I'll take Coppola's Dracula over the Lugosi one as well, good as Lugosi was in that titular role).

Some of these originals have a reputation that isn't justified by film itself, more like some part of it was iconic, such as Lugosi's portrayal of Dracula. The rest of that movie is pretty stagy and creaky, even by the standards of that time.
 
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snakeeyes

Audioholic Ninja
The Mummy with Brendon Fraser is one of my favorite movies! I watch it at least 5 times a year. The Beni character is great! :)
 
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shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
The Mummy with Brendon Fraser is one of my favorite movies! I watch it at least 5 times a year. The Beni character is great! :)
If you like that movie, go watch Deep Rising, if you haven't seen it already. It is made by the same director and also has the actor who played Beni in it, in a similar comic role. Great movie, similar in tone to The Mummy with Fraser.
 
afterlife2

afterlife2

Audioholic Warlord
If it's ever on NF/Prime I'll check it out.
On another note I heard Cemetery Man is great.
 
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