A widow and her two children come to believe that
her darkened old house is home to an evil presence. HORROR
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The Others (2001)Written and Directed by Alejandro Amenábar
Starring Nicole Kidman, Fionnula Flanagan, Christopher Eccleston, Alakina Mann, James Bentley, Eric Sykes, Elaine Cassidy |
These days, The Others is primarily known for its bonkers, out-of-left-field twist ending. Unfortunately, while the ending does bring up some serious existential questions and bring something entirely new to the horror genre, it's connected to a film that totally doesn't. Outside of its twist, The Others is a painfully dull affair that serves as your typical, by-the-numbers haunted house movie but with close to zero scares. For hardcore horror fans like myself, it feels more like an historical drama than a ghost movie.
Nicole Kidman plays Grace Stewart, a widow in 1945 whose husband has disappeared in the war. She lives in a dark old house with her two photosensitive children, Anne and Nicholas, and soon becomes convinced that the place is haunted. Kidman delivers a decent performance, but there are times when she seems too scared for the situation at hand. I'm also upset by how underutilized Christopher Eccleston was as her husband Charles. As the film progresses, and you realize that it's Grace and her children that are the ghosts haunting the house, it just about saves the movie. Seeing a haunted house film from the ghosts' perspective is brilliant. I just wish that the rest of the film had been scary or creepy enough to live up to it. The Others falls short of scares and atmosphere, though it tries really hard to be memorable. I can't say that I'd ever see it again, especially knowing the twist. |