The Others

THE OTHERS is a superior horror film, one that pays attention to style, but also one that goes a long way in terms of substance, in finality. Beyond being entertaining, the end of THE OTHERS is one that puts a new light on an old idea in the form of a twist. Well made, this twist was perhaps problematic in other hands, but in the eyes and under the camera of Alejandro Amenebar, I accepted it. There's a lot of muddle near the middle, but that only comes from frustration, but the vastness created in every room and every eyeball is enough to make an entertaining film pretty great. Starring Nicole Kidman is a great performance, THE OTHERS tells of a wealthy widow living in a mansion. Help appears at the door one day, and she hires the trio, a group of elderly workers who had worked in the house many years prior. The children in the house (two of them, and played wonderfully) are allergic to light, and thus the doors, shutters, and curtains all remain closed and locked. From this creepy premise we're given a conventional but well filmed ghost story. The children begin to see ghosts, and there are some mysteries looming, but nothing seems out of the ordinary in terms of narrative approach until the end. It's a great twist, one that I admire and enjoyed, but it shouldn't define the whole film. The first hour and a half or so is a very good, conventional ghost story, and the last thirty minutes is a great movie. Still though, 'very good' and 'great' combined makes something very worth seeing: well acted, shot, and paced.
The Others: ★★★1/2