The Others - A Spine Chilling Masterpiece
Written: Sep 17 '01 (Updated Mar 24 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Very scary movie. Nicole Kidman. No gore or violence
Cons: Some people will overlook this movie
The Bottom Line: A scary, suspenseful movie worth seeing in the theaters. Wonderful performances.
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| dragonfire88's Full Review: |
I have wanted to see The Others since the first time I saw the preview. My best friend and I were looking forward to seeing the movie. Then came the day the movie was opening, but it wasn't at the theater here in town. A few more weeks passed, and the movie still wasn't here. I figured I would have to wait for the movie to come out on DVD to see it. Then this weekend, it came to the theater here. So my friend and I went to see it.
CAST
Nicole Kidman - Grace
Alakina Mann - Anne
James Bentely - Nicholas
Mrs. Mills - Fionnula Flanagan
Mr. Tuttle - Eric Sykes
Elaine Cassidy - Lydia
Alejandro Amenabar - Writer, director, and composer
This movie is rated PG-13. It is not appropriate for children of any age. It is too scary for children.
PLOT
The movie takes place in 1945 on the British island of Jersey. The movie begins in a way that gets everyone's attention, and guarantees everyone is wide awake - no, I'm not saying anymore about that. It is a foggy morning. There is a shot of a huge mansion sitting in the swirling fog. There are no other homes around. A group of three people - an older man and woman, and a young woman - arrive at the mansion. All three are dressed in black. Grace lets them in, thinking they are there to answer her ad for new servants. The previous servants just disappeared one night a few weeks before. The people are Mr. Tuttle, Mrs. Mills, and Lydia. Mr. Tuttle is a gardener, Mrs. Mills a housekeeper, and Lydia helps Mrs. Mills. Lydia is mute. She can hear and understand other people though.
Grace lives in the mansion with her two young children, Anne and Nicholas. Her husband left to fight in WWII and has not returned home even though the war is over. Grace has not heard from him in over a year. She still hopes he will return home.
Grace shows the women around the house. Mr. Tuttle will be living in the shed. The two women will be sharing an attic room. Grace has a few rules for the house. The most important is that no door can be opened before the last door is shut. She has a key chain she carries that has fifteen keys to the fifty doors in the house. She has the rule to keep her children safe. Both children are photosenstive, severely allergic to light. If they are exposed to sunlight, or any light brighter than that from an oil lamp, they will break out in horrible sores and eventually die. The house is kept in darkness to protect the children. Heavy curtains and shutters are kept closed to keep the sunlight out. The children can only be around the light from on oil lamp, and even that must be kept dim. Sometimes, if Grace is in a room and the children are in another, the curtains will be opened to let the light in that one room. Silence is also very important to Grace. They talk in soft voices most of the time. They have no telephone, radio, or anything else that makes noise. The electricity was cut off several times during the war, and Grace says they have since learned to live without it. There is a piano in the music room - it came with the house. The children are not allowed to play it. Keeping the house silent is Grace's way of preventing the migraines she gets.
The new servants settle in. Mrs. Mills tells Grace that they three of them once worked at the house several years before. Not long after the new servants arrive, strange things start to happen. Doors that should have been shut and locked are found open. Curtains that were closed are opened. Voices are heard in empty rooms. The piano is played when no one is in the music room. Thumps, creaks, and other noises are heard from locked rooms. What is happening in this house? Watch the movie to find out.
This is a wonderful movie. It is truly scary. It is the scariest movie I have seen in a long time, maybe ever. I jumped and screamed more than once. So did everyone else in the theater, especially at one moment in the movie. Everyone, even the men, jumped and screamed that time. It was actual screaming too, not just a little crying out. I have never screamed in a movie before, or been to one where everyone in the theater was screaming. That should show just how scary this movie is. During the movie, my friend started sliding lower and lower in her seat. The further into the movie, the lower she slid. Almost like she was trying to slide under the seat in front of her to hide. I kept wishing I had a blanket so I could pull it over my head to hide. After the movie was over, it took a few minutes before we could get up. Then that night, I kept jumping at every little sound I heard. I have a cat, Elmo, that likes to run around sometimes, and jump on things. Well, I was on the internet doing some things, and out of nowhere came Elmo peeling into the room and jumping up over the desk. I about jumped out of my skin. He does things like that all the time, but then it really scared me. A little later, I was walking through the mostly dark house, and he went streaking past me and scared me again. He just seemed to appear from nowhere. Thankfully, I didn't have any scary dreams based on the movie.
There is no violence or gore in this movie. There is no crazy person wearing a hockey mask waiting to jump out of a corner and attack anyone. No one like Jason, Freddy Krugger, or the guy from Halloween is in this movie. There is not one drop of blood shown in the movie. There are no special effects. This movie doesn't need those things to be scary. The tension and suspense builds and builds throughout the movie. You never know what will happen next. You will be on the edge of your seat, if you can stay in your seat that is. There is no monster to be afraid of. In this movie, you fear the unknown. What is making noise in a locked room? What will be found when someone goes to investigate?
SETTING
The setting is very important to the mood and atmosphere of the movie. This is a creepy movie that will send chills down your back. The mood is set right from the beginning of the movie. From the first sight of that house, sitting there surrounded by the fog, I knew that house was not somewhere I would want to be. The house was kept in the dark almost all the time, making the interior of the house dark and gloomy. There were shadows lurking in the rooms. The shadows, dark, and gloom up to set the mood for the movie. The house was almost always surrounded by the fog, even during the day. Grace even mentions that the fog is worse a few days after the servants arrive. There are some interesting camera angles used for some of the shots in the movie. Some of the shots spin around the room, and those shots made me a bit dizzy. The lighting does a lot to add to the suspense of the movie. The house looks sinister, even in the daylight.
The house is in a rather remote location on the British island of Jersey. There is a lot of ground that is part of the property. There is a shed on the grounds, and that is where Mr. Tuttle stays. There are no neighbors around. There is no other house in sight. Grace does mention a village once or twice, but not how far away it is or how large it is. The whole movie takes place either in the house or on the grounds. There is a scene or two outside, and one in the shed. There are only five people living in the house and one living on the grounds in the shed. The characters are isolated from any other human contact. The isolation adds to the tension of the movie.
Silence is used very effectively in the movie. During some scenes, nothing is heard. In other scenes all that is heard is a character breathing, boards creaking, or things thumping and thudding in locked, empty rooms. Sometimes all that is heard is the footsteps of someone walking, or the jangling of the keys on the key chain. There is music played during some scenes in the movie. The music that is played is creepy and chilling, adding to the atmosphere of the movie. The director knew when to use silence, a few creaking boards, or music to add to the tension and suspense.
The character of Grace is developed very well. Through the movie we learn more and more about her. The children are developed well too. They are in many of the scenes with Grace. The children themselves look a bit creepy when you see them sitting in the pale light from an oil lamp. They are very pale since they can't be in the sunlight. Mrs. Mills is the most developed of the servants. She has the most contact with Grace, and confides in her about a few things. Lydia does not speak at all since she is mute. Mr. Tuttle spends most of his time outside taking care of the grounds and has little contact with Grace. Not much about him is learned. Only that he has worked with Mrs. Mills and Lydia at for several years. They have made their own make shift family.
The acting in this movie is wonderful. Nicole Kidman is brilliant. She perfectly portrays a loving but strict mother, who is on edge at having to stay in the house in darkness all the time. As the movie progress, you can see her become wound tighter and tighter over the events that are happening in the house. You see the fear build in her. Alakina Mann and James Bentley are very talented young actors. Finnula Flanagan is wonderful in her role as Mrs. Mills. At times she is very kind and loving, especially towards the children. At other times you wonder just what she is up to.
CHARACTERS
Grace - She lives in a huge mansion with her two children. Her husband when off to fight in WWII and has not returned even though the war is over. She is strict concerning the rule about no door may be opened until the last one is closed. She has to be to keep her children safe from the sunlight that is deadly to them. She does love her children, but she is strict with them. She is very religious and teaches her children to believe everything that is in the Bible. If she can't see and feel something she doesn't believe in it. If something isn't in the Bible, she doesn't believe in it. Grace is already stressed - from being cut off from everyone else, living in darkness, and waiting for her husband to return home - before the strange things start to happen in the house. Then she becomes even more stressed, and jumpy.
Anne - Grace's daughter. She tells stories to scare her brother at times. She gets in trouble for doing those things. She is more outspoken than her brother. She hints once or twice about something that happened one day. She never actually says what happened, but from her tone when she speaks of it, it must not be good. She and Grace don't always have the best relationship. She challenges some things that Grace believes.
Nicholas - Grace's son. I think he is younger than Anne. He gets scared much more easily. He seems to be closer to Grace than Anne is.
Mrs. Mills - Housekeeper that arrives at the house with Lydia and Mr. Tuttle. She is an older woman, a grandmotherly type. She is kind and loving to the children. She is helpful to Grace most of the time. She seems to know more about what is going on in the house than she is saying. She doesn't seem surprised by much of what happens.
Lydia - Young woman that arrives at the house with Mrs. Mills and Mr. Tuttle. She is a mute. She wasn't born that way. Something happened several years before that caused her to stop talking. When questioned, Mrs. Mills wouldn't say exactly what happened. Lydia helps Mrs. Mills with the housekeeping.
Mr. Tuttle - Man that arrives at the house with Mrs. Mills and Lydia. He is a gardener. He is an elderly man. He lives in a shed on the property. He, Mrs. Mills, and Lydia have been together for a long time. He also seems to know what is going on.
The House - Yes, I said the house. I am reverting back to my high school English class mode again. The house is the main focus of the whole movie. In fact, all but a few scenes take place somewhere in the movie. Everything that happens in the movie is related to the house in some way. Even the new servants are related to the house because they once worked there years before. The house is huge, with fifty rooms. Many of those rooms are shown during the course of the movie. Strange things happen in rooms that are empty and locked. Boards creak, things thump and thud. The house seems to be sinister in many scenes. At times, it seems almost as if the house is trying to tell Grace and her children something.
This is a wonderful movie. It is truly scary. Nail biting, edge of your seat, jumping out of your skin scary. Anyone who likes scary movies should go see this movie, and see it in the theater. You may want to take someone with you that you can latch onto during the scary parts.
This review is a late entry in the Scary As Hell write off hosted by Jeremy1456. Participants could write about anything that scared them. I was originally going to write about a book, but they I saw this movie and changed my mind. I will write a review of that book another time. I was all set to work on the review on Tuesday, but then I saw what happened, and getting this done on time didn't seem so important anymore.
Please check out the reviews by the other participants in this write off.
Bballin2413
Chris_Billings
ChromeKiller
Deaser26
DragonFire88
Gameguy_Justin
Girl_Goddess
Jeff_wilder78
Jeremy1456
LaughingTarget
Lisa_J
LorinSilver
MichaelHatton
OompaLoompa56
Pika312
Sephiroth2000
The_Musician
Unhappycarrie
Xeno3998
Thanks for reading.
Recommended:
Yes
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