SPOILERS.
*****safety space, bitch*****
The Village:
It's set in modern times. The village elders were part of some support group that had lost loved ones to crime, so they live on a wildlife preserve or something that belongs to one of them. The monsters are costumes the elders use to keep the young people from venturing outside of the village, because the modern world is too corrupt. Joaquin Phoenix's character needs medicine from the outside, and blind-chick (Bryce Dallas Howard) ventures out to get it. The monster terrorizing her is some crazed retarded guy in the village who "likes" her. She ends up killing him, getting the medicine from someone on the outside who keeps her visit a secret, and venturing back inside none the wiser, thus maintaining the innocence of the village, which can continue on with life per usual.
Funny anecdote, when I went to see the movie, there was a large girl in a red hoodie. This made her look just like the monsters in the village. Har har.
House of Sand and Fog:
Foreign people get Jennifer Connelly's house. The house was lost to her through an error and she wants it back, but McForeignites own her house now. Jennifer's boyfriend puts a gun to them and they agree to give up the house. Mr. Foreign Guy's son grabs the gun and the police end up shooting him. Very tragic. Foreign Duder kills wife and self. Girl likely gets house back, I guess. I didn't watch it and the question posed to me after it being spoiled and being in a room full of crying people who just saw it, "Do you want to see it?" NO!! Depressing much!?