Customer Reviews

The Colony [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A family finds the planned community it moves too is too planned, run by a C.E.O. with "plans" of his own!!!

Despite the predictable plot (and outcome), the movies raises some interesting points.

How much freedom would you sacrifice in the name of security?

Would you live in a place, say, where you would be expected to dress a certain way? Where you would have no say in what your children were taught? Where everything you have is owned by the community?

It makes for good discussions.

It's about a family who moves it to the perfect neighborhood, what they thought was perfect anyway, only to find out how deadly it would be for anyone who tried to break a rule. It's a great suspenseful thriller starring the late, great John Ritter. My only wish is that it would be released on DVD.

While sorting thru up a box of videos I came across this gem of a "made for TV" movie. It stars John Ritter and Mary Page Keller (of Duet on FOX) as a family with kids that are seeking the perfect neighborhood. After they move to their "perfect" neighborhood they find it is anything but paradise. Hal "Barney Miller" Linden plays the heavy in this one. This a great flick; highly suspenseful with a pretty neat finale. I think Hitch would have liked this one. It really needs to be on DVD.

NEW UPDATE! 21.Sept.07

As pointed out below, if you subcribe to Comcast Digital Cable, "The Colony" is showing thru the month of November, 2007 on their "ON DEMAND feature" under the Free Movies tab. If you are fortunate to have this option, now is the time to see this movie without commercials or embedded logos. Maybe this will stir interest in a DVD release with its Orignal Aspect Ratio of 1.66:1.

John Ritter is wonderful in this thriller about a family looking to escape the growing troubles of the world around them. Their very bright children are having trouble in school. The teenage daughter is so frustrated that she broke into the school's computer system and changed all her easy A's into failing grades -- now that's frustration! The final straw is the car-jacking and threatened sexual assault against the wife.

When the offer comes to live in a gated community in houses that all look like "hotels" according to the young son, they are reluctant, but ultimately accept. However, the dream life soon turns -- slowly but surely -- into a nightmare.

If you know anyone who has ever lived in a gated community, you know about the sometimes outrageous intrusions into your personal life. It can start with the color of your draperies, number of pets, types of plants -- and then takes off from there.

Although this is certainly not a recent film, it is even more relavent today. How much freedom are you willing to give up to anyone, wether it is a homeowners organization or government? The Colony is very well done, and will make you question your own personal decisions on many levels. Napoleon Bonaparte stated, "Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide."

I only wish the DVD was available!

This Movie has John Ritter (Three's Company) I didn't know he could be a serious actor. Anyway, This movie is about a couple that moves into a neighborhood with strict rules and if they are broken; People will go so far as to kill you!! It was a well written script! It had me scared to move to Suburbia!

Again i just love the movie for John Ritter. But the movie was good anyway. Considering the ending.

I just saw this movie on TV, and it reminds me of my experience in Scripps Ranch. I rented a condo there, in a gated community, where all the houses were required to be painted in a very narrow range of colors, all landscaping, even on private property, was maintained by the community, any changes to the landscaping, even on one's own property had to be approved, in fact you needed approval even to put up a bird house! And you might very well not get it! You were not permitted to park in your own driveway (it had to be in the garage), or hang clothes on a line to dry, and if the bushes on your OWN terrace grew too tall, they came and cut them, whether you wanted them cut or not! The neighborhood committee consisted almost entirely of corporate people, with only ONE, SINGLE member from the community itself. It was almost as bad as in "The Colony!" So far as I know, they didn't kill you if you refused to conform, but they did have community police who could issue you a citation, and they COULD kick you out! To me, this was NOT a nice place to live; it was more like living in a sterilizer. Beware, all, there is much that is real about this made-for-TV movie.

Good movie, but not good enough to pay certain prices people are asking for it. They're outrageous.

Security specialist, Rick Knowlton (John Ritter) upset by a life-threatening incident is invited to live in a secure closed society "The Colony". At first the parents, children and family dog are happy. Then people get over antsy about nitpicky rules. This masks something more sinister.

If you are familiar with computers you may notice this movie is a little dated.

Warning if you can not watch cruelty to dogs and ferns then you may find this upsetting.


Stepford Wives [VHS] ~ Katharine Ross

I am reminded of when I saw the killer-cat movie "Strays." This movie, much like that one, is not a BAD movie, but I wouldn't call it GREAT.

The plot is that a mild-mannered American family, tired of facing growing crime, moves into a neighborhood run by their company. Its sealed off, there's constant security patrols, and every one pretty much knows every one else. But there's something else here...like EVERY THING is controlled. Your furniture, work-out clothes, and even house color (inside and out) are controlled by the company. Some things, including camera installations and animal control, are done without being warned.

There are some things they try to freak you out with that don't really scare me - for example, uniforms at a school? [WARNING! INCOMING SARCASM] Oh my dear God, a private school with uniforms, what's this world coming too? However, the ideas of suppressing arts and crafts desires of students for more career-driven jobs was an interesting spin. Not changing your house color? Well that's understandable, most private places don't want you messing around with some thing they paid to build and are paying to maintain. Also, I kept wondering just how bad the family had to stay there. I mean, we all want a good neighborhood, but do we bend that easily? For crying out loud, after finding out people are dying, get out of there and move into what we call a "suburb."

This is the kind of movie I would suggest watching on TV (it recently came out on Lifetime, surprisingly) or renting it. I don't know if I would recommend buying it, but like other reviewers have said it's interesting the first time around.