Village of the Damned

Village of the Damned is a 1995 American science fiction-horror film directed by John Carpenter and starring Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Linda Kozlowski, Michael Paré, Mark Hamill, and Meredith Salenger. It is a remake of the 1960 film of the same name which in turn was based on the 1957 novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham. The 1995 remake is set in Northern California, whereas the book and original film are both set in the United Kingdom. The 1995 film was marketed with the tagline, "Beware the Children".

This was the last publicly released film starring Reeve before he was paralyzed in an equestrian accident in May 1995, as well as his last theatrically released film.

Plot
All of the people and animals within the quiet coastal town of Midwich in California's Marin County lose consciousness during a mysterious "blackout" at 10AM, and regain consciousness at 4PM. Following the blackout, ten women are mysteriously pregnant, including a virgin girl, as well as a married woman who has not been sexually active for a year. None of the women seek abortions after having dreams, and all the babies are born the same night in the local barn – five boys and five girls, though one girl is stillborn. The surviving children are all healthy and sound, but have pale skin, unusually smooth, white-blonde hair, cobalt eyes, and unusually narrow fingernails.

However, they do not appear to possess a conscience or individual personalities. The children display eerie psychic powers that can result in violent and deadly consequences whenever they experience pain or provocation. The children soon "pair off" like mates, except for David, whose intended mate was the stillborn girl. As a result of this loss, David is the outcast of the group, walking in the back of the group by himself. Although he resembles the other children and retains some degree of psychic powers, David has the ability to show human compassion. He and his mother, Jill McGowan, the local school principal, share a brief conversation about this, and David begins to understand his situation. The children's leader is Mara, and her partner is Robert. Mara is the daughter of the local physician, Dr. Alan Chaffee and his wife, Barbara. As a toddler, Mara used her powers to force her mother to burn her arm in boiling water and later commit suicide by jumping off a cliff.

The children eventually develop a bad reputation in the town, and they move to the local barn as their classroom and for survival. The local church minister, Reverend George attempts to shoot the children with a sniper rifle, only for the children to use their powers to force George to shoot himself.

Soon, it is learned that there are other colonies of "blackout" children in foreign countries, but due to their inhuman nature, they were quickly eliminated, in some cases at the cost of destroying the entire town. The scientific team in Midwich quickly flee the town to escape the growing chaos. One of the government scientists, Dr. Susan Verner, is forced to show the children the well-preserved alien corpse of David's intended partner she secretly kept in her laboratory for scientific research. David is devastated, and the Mara and Robert force her to fatally stab herself with a scalpel. An angry mob gathers to kill the children, but Sarah, the widow of her husband, Reverend George, is forced to immolate herself, and later the state highway patrol and local sheriffs are mentally controlled into shooting each other in a chaotic gun battle.

In order to rid the town of the children, Alan devises a plan to detonate a bomb inside a briefcase in the children's classroom. By thinking of a brick wall, he is able to create a mental barrier and keep the presence of the time-bomb a secret from the children. Jill begs him to spare her son, David because he is not like the others. Alan agrees, and he attempts to do this by asking David to leave the classroom to get his notebook from his car. The children begin to suspect that Alan is hiding something. Jill then shows up, and the children use mind control to stop her, but David rushes to her defense and knocks Mara over. Alan then yells at Jill and David to leave the building. Mara uses all of her mental strength, and her alien features start showing, while breaking through Alan's defenses, revealing the bomb. The other children look at the clock, and the bomb explodes, killing everyone inside, including Alan.

While driving the car, Jill tells David: "Don't worry, David. We'll go someplace where nobody knows who we are." David looks off into the distance as they drive away.