Main cast: Chloe Caemmerer (Connie), Winnie Du (Julia), Michael Gum (Nick), Shiah Luna (Tala), Tyler Malinauskas (Jason), Daniel Olguin (Jacey), Oliver Rotunno (Alex), Eleonora Saravalle (Sarah), Kenzie Leigh Spears (Kaileigh), Victoria Strange (Liz), Rane Thomason (Matt), and Otis Watkins (Midnight)
Director: Terry Spears
Good lord, why? Why even make this movie? Did everyone involve lost a bet or something?
As the Village Sleeps is one of those movies where, maybe because the budget only covered rental of the location and filming equipment, the bulk of the movie just focuses on the actors talking and wandering around the place because no one has the money to create scary scenes. The story is about this lady that invites a bunch of friends to a cabin and of course, people start to die, ooh. However, the whole thing is even worse than amateur hour.
For one, the lighting is off. Scenes are either too bright—especially during “frightening” moments—or too dark, suggesting that the film was shot regardless of what time it is during the day, probably within as few takes as possible. The actors are filmed from weird angles, sometimes from too far away or at other times from completely inappropriate angles that only suggest that maybe the cameraman is high or is someone dragged off the streets to hold the equipment for a dollar an hour. The acting level is abysmal tier, and we have actors that look way much older than the characters they are supposed to be playing looking like they are slowly dying inside by the minute. They know the movie is bad, and they are suffering from that knowledge that eats away at every cell in their body.
The movie is not the nicest thing to look at as well. The poor actors look like they have to show up in their own clothes. I hope they get catering at least.
There is nothing scary here, aside from the make-up on the actors and the porn movie-tier brand of acting, as the movie clearly can’t afford to set up convincing death scenes. Just painfully awkward scenes of actors painfully attempt to emulate human beings, saying some pretty dire lines and generally coming off like they are really regretting not applying for that job at their neighborhood fast food joint.
As the Village Sleeps is… ugh. Nobody involved in this movie survives the experience with their dignity intact. I barely escaped with my brain cells intact. If you watch this movie and suffer dire consequences to your sanity as a result, you have only yourself to blame, because I have spent five paragraphs warning you—and that is five paragraphs way too many to be wasted on this embarrassing thing.
