The Village

I just finished watching The Village. I saw it some months ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I am definately a fan of M. Night Shyamalan. I can't wait for his next film to come out this summer! But, back to the past.

Intellectually some of the suspense was gone because I knew what was coming--I knew the several twists, turns, and surprises of the plot. However, the movie was still suspensful. The style of filming, the often haunting music, and the acting all combined to set me slightly on edge even as I knew something was coming.

As a kid I was scared of the dark--well not the dark exactly, but what could be in it. I didn't mind so much laying in my bed in a dark room--but going down a dark hallway to the bathroom wasn't too feasable of an option. Again, intellectually I knew that there was nothing lurking to snatch or startle me in the dark doorways I passed. This meant nothing though, fear doesn't have an exclusive attachment to the intellect, it is also very much tied to emotions. Besides the emotional commitment to suspense though I enjoyed this film because of the hope involved.

I've watched a couple horror films (in this category I'm not including The Birds or Psycho, both of which I've watched and which didn't scare me)--I might even have blogged about them, and I'm certain I have another Villiage blog back in my archives. These movies I didn't like. My imagination is quite overactive. As a kid it was quite busy dreaming up what could be lurking in the shadows. Now I enjoy developing fantasy and science-fiction worlds, but my mind also works overtime with plots. If I watch a horror movie I know that it isn't real, but my mind ignores this fact, runs with the plot, and personalizes it.

M. Night's movies are different though. A horror movie, from what I can understand, has at its core the premise of Murphy's Law, written in blood. What can go wrong, will go wrong with drastic consequences, and there is no chance of anything good happening. In short there is no hope in a horror movie. You know going in that the movie will end badly for the characters. In a Shyamalan movie though there is a sense of hope. Things may be bad, they may get worse, but somewhere there is light at the end of a tunnel, and somebody will see it.

~Matt

PS I found my old post. It isn't much, but you can see it here. I thought it was longer, but I must be remembering my later posts about Signs and The Sixth Sense.