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| DIRECTED BY |
| Jack Clayton
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| STARRING |
| Deborah Kerr |
| Peter Wyngarde |
| Megs Jenkins |
| Martin Stephens |
| Pamela Franklin |
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Warning: Spoiler in Third Paragraph
Usually, I can only appreciate a horror film when it�s of the subtly psychological variety � I could be accused of narrow-mindedness for that, but that�s just why I admire films such as �The Innocents.� This is the film that young director Alejandro Amenabar �found inspiration� from for his 2001 hit �The Others� � in fact, Amenabar actually lifted much out of this film and simply riffed upon those particular elements enough to convey originality. I�m certainly not attacking �The Others;� however, �The Innocents� remains the more effective horror film.
The film�s calculated pacing slowly builds up a sense of insidiousness which is symbolized when Miss Giddens finds an insect-infested statue hiding behind a beautiful array of flowers (a �lurking beneath the surface� comment that David Lynch would likely admire.) The tension manages to build up to a genuine sense of creepiness where unnerving apparitions appear atop castles, behind windowpanes, across rivers, etc. The film could�ve easily been an overwrought disaster if handled by an actress with any less authenticity than Deborah Kerr. I suppose if one figures out what�s going on before the revelation � which I didn�t; it truly kept me guessing and interested � then the film will be much less effective, though.
It certainly doesn�t hurt that the film is handled with graceful fluidity by cinematographer Freddie Francis, who managed to make even verbose conversations interesting through creative dolly work. My few criticisms would be that the score sometimes strays into overblown territory and a few loose ends are left untied � we�re never really given a clear answer as to whether or not Flora was ever exorcised, for instance. And the ending never really executes the potential that it built up for itself � I was ultimately left wondering how I should feel and I think that ambiguousness was quite unnecessary for this particular film.
