Scary And Smart

Shyamalan's latest exercise in mystery is set in a village as remote, quaint and full of foreboding as the Hobbits' Shire. The elders warn their young not to go into the woods, for there monsters dwell. For years a tense equilibrium has obtained; neither group invades the other's terrain. Suddenly there are raids and animal mutilations by the unseen creatures. Fear grips the village, but two of the young--Lucius (Joaquin Phoenix) and his blind, beloved Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard)--are bold and pure enough to confront the demons.

After The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs, Shyamalan is practically a scientist of horror. "All the decisions are made in honor of the God of Tension," he says. "Raising the tension over and over and over and never letting you up." That means direction and misdirection worthy of Hitchcock. "Where you would normally cut, I don't cut, so now you're not sure of the rhythm of the movie, which makes you feel uneasy. Or the camera is moving just six inches over the course of three minutes--you're not sure why because you're not aware, but you're feeling somehow more tense. You can see the outline of a path that you know you are supposed to walk because you've walked it so many times. But you're getting lost in the woods."

The film's payoff raises more questions than it answers, which may be Shyamalan's intent in this political parable of fear. When the kids are let in on the fairy tale's secret, they are told, "Do your very best not to scream." That's a rule viewers of The Village need not obey. --Reported by Desa Philadelphia and Jeffrey Ressner/Los Angeles