Village of the Damned

Directed by Wolf Rilla, Village of the Damned details the horror that ensues as it becomes increasingly clear that the 12 adolescents in an isolated village possess otherworldly powers. Filmmaker Rilla, working from a screenplay written with Stirling Silliphant and Ronald Kinnoch, does a fantastic job of initially luring the viewer into the deliberately-paced proceedings, as Village of the Damned kicks off with an exceedingly promising (and impressively ominous) opening stretch in which the residents of said village fall simultaneously unconscious for an entire afternoon – with the movie, beyond that point, progressing into a slow and somewhat uneventful midsection that’s overflowing with tedious chatter and repetitive exposition. It’s clear, then, that Village of the Damned benefits from its sporadic emphasis on the creepy exploits of those 12 kids, including a compelling sequence wherein several of them force a man to shoot himself, and there’s little doubt, as well, that the tense climax ensures that the whole thing ends on an unexpectedly gripping note – which ultimately does cement the film’s place as a hit-and-miss effort that occasionally packs a memorable punch.

**1/2 out of ****