MovieChat Forums > Village of the Damned (1960) Discussion > Which leader do yall prefer?

Which leader do yall prefer?

posted 19 years ago by Heavyweight86
17 replies | jump to latest

David from the original or Mara from the remake?
I prefer David, because he's creepier and more suspenseful. Mara wasn't all that creepy or suspenseful, to me, she was just made up for fun, just so guys can look at her and be attracted to her, and Kirstie Alley was miscast as a government scientist, she wasn't a perfect match for it. The ringleader was also gonna be a boy like in the original, but Carpenter decided to change it with a girl instead. Even though he feminizes the story, there weren't much women issues.

[–] TrustNoOneKMC 17 years ago

I thought it was an interesting switch to have the girl as the leader.

I also liked having David develop emotions at the end of the remake

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ThrownMuse 17 years ago

>>Mara wasn't all that creepy or suspenseful, to me, she was just made up for fun, just so guys can look at her and be attracted to her<<

SHE WAS NINE!

>>Even though he feminizes the story, there weren't much women issues.<<

SHE WAS NINE! AND AN ALIEN!

A Place That Defies Logic - RIP CAGE

[–] CMRKeyboadist 17 years ago

David played the role with less emotion. Mara showed some very hateful emotions in the remake showing that these children were quite hostile. In the original they killed for the sake of survival. Mara in the remake, I believed, liked killing.

-PCyst

[–] BobFlame 15 years ago

Um if you paid closer attention to Mara`s dialogue , you`d see that it wasn`t that she " liked " killing . She simply felt(like David in The Original) that those she saw as inferior must either learn to accept The Children or be destroyed .

[–] BobFlame 14 years ago

Also if you paid close attention , even in The 1960 Film The Children were not truly emotionless . They simply felt a strong desire to survive & lacked empathy for others which would make them sociopaths . They displayed a clear disdain of those around them . David`s last words were said with astonishment . It could be argued that even the snobbish , self-righteous way David spoke is a form of emotion . Also , one girl seemed amused by Gordon`s lack of understanding .

[–] mldardar 7 years ago

Yeah, I hated Mara, and kept hoping someone would poke out her eyes or crush her head from her very first attack, but especially older Mara. I'm glad Carpentar's version didn't show them abandoning their bodies like this one, but overall I preferred this one. Both done very good though, with fine acting.

[–] cosmic_quest 17 years ago

I prefer Mara. The child actor in the role was not only able to deliver a superior performance but the character was properly fleshed out, giving her this creepy, twisted edge. David barely did anything as the original film seemed to focus much more on the adults rather than the children.

I doubt the role of the leader was feminised so guys can leer at her considering we are talking about a child of nine here.

"I always pretend to root for Gryffindors but, secretly, I love my Slytherin boys."~ Karen, W&G

[–] morning_coffee_cub 16 years ago

i preferred david by miles. his acting ability, to come across at such a young age as mature, disturbing and unfeeling, was far superior to that of mara. to me, she came off as a stuck-up, snot-nosed spoiled brat. i didn't find her creepy at all. yeah, she mighta liked killing people, but originally the aliens are supposed to be free of emotions. martin stephens as David communicated that very well through his ability to act. i know, she was nine, but so was david, and i think he carried over the feeling of the story better overall.

[–] BobFlame 14 years ago

Again , The Children were not emotionless . They had heightened survival instincts & a lack of empathy for others which would make them sociopaths .

[–] magolding 13 years ago

I always thought that Martin Stephens was abut ten when he acted in the VotD, but there is a book about child actors called Moving Picture Boy which gives his birth date as 1948, making him twelve when the movie was filmed, But small for his age.

Added 02/09/11.
I just googled Martin Stephens and found a few birth dates for the correct Martin Stephens, the British former child actor.

IMDB: July 19,1949
Wikipedia: 19 July 1948
Answers.com: 1949
Probert Encyclopedia: 1949
Avelyman.com: Friday, 30th January 1948.

[–] franzkabuki 16 years ago

Who are the "yall"? Are they evil?

And how can a person be suspensful?

[–] BobFlame 14 years ago

Ya`ll is a contraction of " Ya all " predominantly spoken in Southern & Urban Areas in The U.S. However , some Midwesterners such as myself also use it . As do some Asian-Americans .

[–] magolding 13 years ago

In the 1995 version Mara was played by Lindsey Haun and David by Thomas Dekker, two successful child actors of the 1990s who sometimes appeared together.

[–] 13 years ago

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