Mainstream directors who try to make horror movies without being fans of the genre frequently embarrass themselves. They think they're bringing something fresh and imaginative to the genre without realizing it's been done before, often better. Mike Nichols' WOLF is entertaining when it examines the effects of lycanthropy on office politics but its werewolf scenes are retreads from old Hammer and Universal horrors. Barry Levinson's SPHERE doesn't know it's "clever twist" is straight out of FORBIDDEN PLANET from fifty years ago. And M. Night Shyamalan's VILLAGE lifts its central conceit intact from Roger Corman's drive-in classic TEENAGE CAVEMAN without, I'm sure, even knowing it. Even the so-called "monsters" looked like the suits in Cormon's old movie. I have nothing against Mr. Shyamalan. I've heard interviews with him and he seems like a good guy. But the ending of his SIXTH SENSE was obvious to anyone who's seen TWILIGHT ZONE a few times, and the ending of THE VILLAGE was just as predictable. I saw it coming from just about the halfway mark, and it frankly made me feel ripped off. He needs to sit down with a bunch of old movies and a stack of FAMOUS MONSTERS and discover that the stuff he thinks he's inventing was invented before he was born. Then maybe the surprise twist of his next movie might actually surprise someone.
Review of The Village
