|
| • Advanced Search • Help |
The Others | Year: 2001 Classification: Horror Directed: - Alejandro Amenábar - Alejandro Amenabar Actors/Actresses: - Nicole Kidman - Christopher Eccleston Who are the Others? The movie has really scary moments, achieved in good taste without excessive gore and violence. I did not see it in the theaters, but watching in on a big screen tv is scary enough. All this is true, even given the fact that I knew what was really going on, because I inadvertently overheard the plot of this movie on "Mad TV." Nicole Kidman, as usual, does an outstanding job of merging with her character and being totally believable. The British accents are unobtrusive enough to make the characters easy to listen to. The dark atmosphere and the suspense work flawlessly to achieve their desired effect. An upper class, seemingly emotionally stable--even if a bit neurotic--and caring widow, is taking care of two children in a remote mansion, following the end of World War II. The children are intelligent, but subject to a mysterious illness--they break into sores when exposed to normal amounts of light. Apart from this strange ailment, everything looks proper, until domestic help arrives. These servants may seem creepy and suspicious, but they simply create the appropriate atmosphere and delay, for a while, the revelation about the emotional breakdown and murder that are the real ghostly (and ghastly) story of this movie. Whence Walk the Dead? Fine, atmospheric ghost story, almost on par with the 1963 version of The Haunting or the equally famous The Innocents, the latter of which it has a great deal in common with. Religious neurotic control freak Nicole Kidman maintains an isolated house in the English countryside in perpetual darkness, to keep her severely light-sensitive young son and daughter protected. Her husband is missing in action in WWII, and antisocial Kidman keeps herself and her children walled-off from the world at large. The new housekeeper tries to liven things up a bit, but is stymied. Into this environment come...Others. Unseen parties opening the always-drawn curtains, moving the furniture, opening and closing doors, and whispering to the children at night. Kidman and the children have occasional nightmarish visions. Try though she does to deny the reality, Kidman is forced to acknowledge that these other unwelcome occupants are in her house, and she puts up a valiant struggle against their influence. Contemporary audiences and jaded ghost story addicts will be a step ahead of this movie, but that is of little matter. It's still a great film. It's slow, stylish, and old-fashioned, employing suggestion and atmosphere to communicate its chills as opposed to more overt horror tactics. The entire cast is terrific, especially Kidman and the two kids, who are adorable. The cinematography is top-notch, the direction steady and sure. It's thematically rich, the title having more than one application - which the viewer will appreciate, after having seen this magnificent film. Very Inteligent Horror Film Another fantastic example of a new genre of smart, very well written and very well made horror movies. Had this come before Sixth Sense it would deserve a full 5 stars. Buy The Others at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on The Others Search with the Priority Search Engine on The Others This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
|
