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Before M. Night Shyamalan morphed into the Rod Serling of movies, he made very funny and clever short amateur films that imitated his favorite directors. Why do I bring this up? Because Shyamalan's film plays like an extended version of "The Twilight Zone" using all the tricks that Rod Serling used in his mini-morality plays. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Shyamalan has paid homage to his idols and developed a style that remains his own. You may figure out "The Village" before the end (as I did but that's part of the fun) but "The Village" remains a suspeneful ride for its duration. ***

Set in an isolated, small rural town with homes straight out of the early 18th century, "The Village" the people live in is surround by woods where mythical beasts live. The townspeople and the creatures developed an alliance early on; the people of the village will never venture into the woods and, in turn, the creatures will remain in the woods. As long as this balance exists, the two can peacefully co-exist. Things change with the death of a little boy. When the death occurs Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix) bravely offers to go through the woods to the nearest town for vitally needed medicines. Ivy Hunt (Bryce Dallas Howard who gives a wonderful performance)is the only other person in the town than Lucius who seems without fear. Ivy's blindness also gives her a unique perception of others. The elders of the town including Edward Walker (William Hurt), August Nicholson (Brendan Gleeson) and Alice Hunt (Sigourney Weaver) all seem against the idea of leaving the village particularly when the creatures start showing up in the village at night. It seems as if their fragile truce and existence will be coming to an end. ***

A well constructed suspense thriller "The Village" shares much in common with Shyamalan's other thrillers ("The Sixth Sense", "Unbreakable" and "Signs"). Although the formula at the heart of his films might be wearing a bit thin for critics, filmgoers will enjoy "The Village" for the atmospheric world that Shyamalan dreams up. The suspenseful pacing, twists & turns in the plot and strong performances by the cast will make "The Village" memorable. It's a worthwhile film even if a bit predictable by the conclusion of the film. I have to give Shyamalan credit he reveals a key plot point 2/3rds through the movie not unlike Hitchcock did with his classic film "Vertigo". It takes tremendous self confidence to do so. When the plot finally begins to take shape, audiences will appreciate what's been revealed (although some will be mad just as they were at Hitchcock when he made his classic film).

The DVD comes with a whole host of special features including deleted scenes, a production photo gallery, Bryce Dallas Howard reading from the diary she kept on set during production and a documentary (broken down into a number of smaller "featurettes") called "Deconstructing The Village" that takes the viewer step-by-step through the production of the film. We learn, for example, why an early version of the creatures (aka "Those We Don't Speak Of")was abandoned as an onset effect. Shyamalan also shares some of his ideas on what makes a movie suspenseful and the cast discusses the symbolism of "The Village" and "Those That We Don't Speak Of". Shyamalan, like a lot of film directors (most notably Steven Spielberg) didn't want to do a commentary track perhaps fearing tht it might rob the film of its mystique. It's a pity as his working methods during production and abandoned early concepts would have been particularly interesting and wouldn't have hurt the film at all. ---