Overall, Almenabar offers too little, too late in the story for viewers who like a sporting chance to out-think their thrillers.
The Others (2001)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:146
Fresh:122
Rotten:24
Average Rating:7.2/10
Consensus: The Others is a spooky thriller that reminds us that a movie doesn't need expensive special effects to be creepy.
Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
US Box Office: $96,080,075
Synopsis: THE OTHERS begins with a close-up of a woman screaming. By the time this intense film ends, everyone watching it will be screaming and gasping. Nicole Kidman stars as Grace, a woman raising two... THE OTHERS begins with a close-up of a woman screaming. By the time this intense film ends, everyone watching it will be screaming and gasping. Nicole Kidman stars as Grace, a woman raising two children by herself in a creepy mansion. World War II is over, but Grace's husband never returned. Meanwhile, the two children, Anne and Nicholas, must constantly stay in the dark because they are deathly allergic to light. Then one day three people show up to take over for Grace's disappeared staff, and trouble starts to brew. The odd trio--an aging nanny, an elderly gardener, and a young mute girl--seems to have a slightly different agenda than Grace and the children do. But when Anne starts talking to strange, unseen people, the scares start building to an incredible climax. Alejandro Amenábar's highly stylized English-language debut is one of the better haunted-house films of the past few years. Not only did Amenábar write and direct the film but he composed the eerie music as well. Nicole Kidman is outstanding as the overprotective mother trying to save her children, while Fionnula Flanagan excels as the nanny with a deep, dark secret. Because the children must remain in darkness, Grace must lock every door behind her, to make sure that the children don't accidentally enter a brightly lit room; it is a marvelous horror-film device that Amenábar uses to perfection. [More]
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Fionnula Flanagan, Christopher Eccleston, Elaine Cassidy
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Fionnula Flanagan, Christopher Eccleston, Elaine Cassidy, Eric Sykes, Kames Bentley, Renée Asherson, Alakina Mann, Andrew Wagner
Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Director: Alejandro Amenábar
Screenwriter: Alejandro Amenábar
Composer: Alejandro Amenábar
Studio: Dimension Films
Reviews for The Others
Refreshingly, the film never resorts to special effects to be spooky.
The most sophisticated and satisfying ghost story on film since The Sixth Sense.
Kidman, who gave a fearless, generous performance in one of the year's other most original works, Moulin Rouge, proves equally adept here at the other end of the spectrum.
A substantial, evocative piece of cinema and a superior one for its genre.
Suffers from an easily predicted 'twist' ending that spoils the chill factor.
The Others might suffer slightly because it's similar to other recently told ghost stories, but its single-minded vision and pungent mood go a long way toward tickling the subconscious.
Instead of cheap scares, [Amenabar] uses atmosphere and light and dark contrasts to build suspense and tension.
All in all, Amenabar has created a ghost story as evocative and authentically English as the mist on the moors.
Throughout The Others, what you don't see is more dreadful than what you do.
Kidman has thrown herself into her role as if it were Lady Macbeth on the London stage, with formidable results.
In drawing out his effects, Amenabar is a little too confident that style can substitute for substance.
An elegantly crafted entertainment, balanced between the psychological and the supernatural.
The director's technical rigor, in other words, outstrips his conceptual discipline, and midway through the film he crosses the thin boundary that separates mystery from muddle.
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