A horror hybrid...
Written: Sep 25 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Makes you think you've figured out the ending, then pulls a twist. Excellent.
Cons: If you take a girl, take some Band-Aids. Nails do horrible things to arms.
The Bottom Line: Intelligent horror films are few and far between, don't miss this one!
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| turboglow's Full Review: |
The Others
I like horror movies. I enjoy the semi-intelligent way a director can shoot a horror flick and catch you off guard when you least expect it. If I can be surprised once or twice then I am satisfied that it was worth the money, because I really don't go see these types of films expecting to be wowed by the plot line. The Others, however, was one of those hybrid films that had an interesting plot that made you think just enough about what was going to happen that you didn't notice the obvious set-ups for things jumping out of shadows to scare you. The Sixth Sense was one of these hybrids, but The Others is a good order of magnitude scarier. Just ask the girls who went with me. If you are like me and you figured out the ending to The Sixth Sense before the rest of the audience gasped, then you will figure out things about The Others that you should keep to yourself until everyone else catches up. I can honestly say, however, that I did not figure out everything before the ending, another mark of a good film.
The Others stars Nicole Kidman as a post-WWII mother and wife who hasn't heard from her husband who went off to war. She has two children and a huge house, but the servants have mysteriously disappeared. The movie opens with her screaming in her sleep, boyfriends be warned, girlfriends will want to walk out at this point so this would be a good time to prepare yourselves, your arm is now hers for the remainder of this film. The introduction of characters takes you through the house as Kidman shows her newly arrived servants where everything is and sets up the ground rules for the film. Rules such as you can never open another door without making sure the door you came through is locked. Like "I'll be right back," this is one of those stupid horror movie catch 22's that you will make you roll your eyes later. But unlike other horror clichés, this one has a point. Her children, a boy and girl, are photo-sensitive. Light kills them. Exposing them to anything stronger than a candle means certain death.
Well, it's a new twist at least, I haven't seen that particular condition in a major film before. But it gets annoying, constantly seeing things played out only in candle light makes me restless, too dark, but it does make for interesting suspense. The daughter in the film is the one character I really liked. She was a tom-boy who challenged her mother's authority whenever she could, only to be punished by reading passages of the bible. Excellent dialogue between both children, I never got bored with their lines because I really didn't know what they were going to say at any one point. Another point for The Others, this certainly isn't your typical horror flick. The new servants consist of a Nanny, Groundskeeper, and a young maid. Everything starts to get going when it's revealed that the daughter sees other people in the house, a boy and his family. At first, nobody else can see them. But as the film moves on, coincidences that were explained away as being the daughters fault begin to get harder to dismiss.
In the span of about 20 minutes we see the revelation that the other beings are real, they are mad about something, and they mean to kill the children by removing the curtains from the house and letting in the light. We also see the introduction of the Husband, returning from the war. I didn't really understand this plot development, mostly because I couldn't decide if it was relevant in any way to the film. All he does is reinforce the idea that something had happened earlier in the timeframe before we came into the story. Something about Kidman's character snapping and doing something to the children. The husband leaves the film ostensibly to go back to the war. Kidman seems to just accept this and move on. Was this a last minute editing addition? It didn't really work for me. The real reason the husband leaves becomes clear, but I won't give that away here.
About this time you start to suspect certain people of being the ones responsible for the mysterious events. The action starts to pick up as everything comes together. The servants are ordered out of the house at gunpoint by Kidman after the curtains disappear just as predicted by the daughter. The daughter, however, decides that this would be a perfect time to run off into the woods to search for her father. In the black of night of course, because light kills them. The boy, naturally not wanting to be left alone, follows his big sister into the woods. They stumble over a graveyard and a big piece of the plot is revealed, but the climax is yet to come. Kidman, brandishing a shotgun for what has to be the fifteenth time in this film, gets the children back into the house, the absolute worst place they could possibly be, but then again I keep forgetting, it's a horror movie. I won't reveal anything more, for anything more would reveal the ending. But suffice to say, it wasn't what I was expecting.
All in all I felt this was extremely well directed with enough acting talent so you didn't get bored with it. Mix that in with a plot that makes you think you have the ending figured out and you've got a film you won't mind spending the $8 on. Because in the end, that's the measure of a good movie, how much you complain about the ticket price after it's over.
I liked it. I'd even see it again.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
turboglow
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Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 0 members
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