Stars: Bryce Dallas Howard, Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, William Hurt, Sigourney Weaver, Brendan Gleeson

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Summary: In a quiet isolated village in Pennsylvania a pact exists between the people and the creatures who live in the surrounding woods. The townsfolk do not enter the woods and the animals do not enter the town. Headstrong Lucius Hunt prepares to step outside the town and this act threatens to change the life of the village forever.

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.

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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 Zonestarring 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 Senseand Signson 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

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Deleted Scenes Introduced By Writer And Director M Night Shyamalan, Home Movie Foundation The Cast Of The Village Featurette, Cornerstones Writing The Village Featurette, Brick By Brick The Making Of The Village Featurette, Landscaping Mixing Sound Design Mus
Subtitles:	English
Year:	2004
Release Date:	January 31, 2005
Runtime:	107 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	B E D 881415
Keywords:	General, Village, Horror, Occult, Sci, Fi
Genre:	Horror/Occult