The Others

Deep within the fog and darkness of old England lays a forgotten mansion. Inside this house resides fear, pain, and madness. Since the end of the war, Grace (Nicole Kidman) has patiently waited for her husband to return from battle. Despite waiting over a year for his return, she also has cared for her two children who are locked away inside the house and away from the sun. Her children, Anne and Nicholas (Alakina Mann and James Bentley), suffer from a rare skin condition that makes them photosensitive to bright light and unable to live a normal life. One day, three former servants show up out of nowhere, to return back to their duties from years ago. Although their intentions seem sincere, the purpose of their arrival is to bring the family a truth so disturbing, and also very haunting.

After the arrival of the new servants, strange occurrences start to happen around their quiet home. Doors seem to unlock by themselves, footsteps can be heard in the upper levels where no one is currently occupying, and Anne claims to see several people in the corridors. At first, Graces believes that her Anne or one of the servants is behind all the mischief, but when she begins to encounter these phenomenon's first hand, she starts to question her sanity. Is Grace slowly going crazy or are their ghosts inside their house? What happens next is a bone chilling hunt to find these ghosts and to discover what secret Grace is hiding not only from her children, but herself as well.

Nicole Kidman gives an outstanding performance in her role as a woman who not only takes the role of mother and wife, but hero and villain as well. Kidman shows us that see can really turn on the attitude at any given moment, and is certainly no push over. When it comes to who's afraid of the dark, I believe the question really is who is afraid of her wrath. The background of the movie is very dark and gloomy. Most of the movie takes places inside her dimly lit home. The scenes that are outside are either at night or in the fog. This technique of light gives the feeling that a ghost could pop out at any given moment.

I enjoyed this spooky little gem. It brings back that eerie element that most suspense movies nowadays lack. One thing I do want to say is that although this movie is classified as a horror, I consider it more as a thriller. There is no blood in the movie, but lots of scenes that would make you jump. If you want to see a movie that would keep you up late at night, then be sure to watch this one with the lights off.

Review written by dxjason 5-25-2002

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