  Suspense master M. Night Shyamalan delivers again From the dark mind of writer, director, and producer M. Night Shayamalan ( The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs ), The Village is an deeply powerful and suspenseful thriller - complete with Shayamalan's highly entertaining, trademark plot twists - that keeps you guessing until the end -- well, almost.
While the surprise ending isn't really all that surprising, it is still enough to make you grin from the sheer cleverness of this superbly written story. Set in an isolated nineteenth-century village in the Pennsylvania woods, the members of this remote community are terrorized by mysterious creatures from the woods. Referred to as "those who we don't speak of" by the villagers, there are strict rules -- "Never enter the woods -- that is where they wait. " And, "Let the bad color not be seen -- it attracts them. " The bad color, of course, is red - evoking blood and violence - and this color symbolism is used brilliantly by Shayamalan throughout the film.
The film does an excellent job of building the suspense about the lurking, unseen creatures that inhabit the woods near the village. To venture outside the village, members need permission from the village elders -- led by Edward Walker (William Hurt) and Alice Hunt (Sigourney Weaver) -- which they refuse to grant. The quiet, shy, yet courageous Lucius Hunt's (Joaquin Phoenix) request to venture to "the towns" for medicines is denied. Only Ivy Walker (a masterful debut performance by Bryce Dallas Howard, daughter of director Ron Howard) - a blind girl whose innocence, wit and spirit make her one of the film's best characters - is given permission to travel through the woods, because...well, there's no fun in spoiling the surprise. The love story involving Lucius and Ivy is played with heart-warming delicacy by Phoenix and Howard.
Adrien Brody's excellent portrayal of the bizarre, mentally disturbed Noah Percy, who makes up the third part of a love triangle involving Lucius and Ivy, is also noteworthy. The film deals with the isse of fear and how it can manipulate - and this deeper, allegorical theme gives the film a chilling weight that will stay with you even after the goose bumps fade away.
The Village is almost completely devoid of special effects and computer animation - unlike Signs - it builds up the suspense and tension the old-fashioned way - with superb cinematography from guru Roger Deakins and, of course, excellent directing by Shyamalan. The Village is one of those movies that haunts your dreams not because of the scary creatures in it -- they really aren't all that scary -- but because the film has a subtle creepiness that makes your skin crawl. My advice: See the movie...but not alone. Grade: A 
