The Others

UK Release Date. 2 November 2001
Certification. 12
Running Time. 1 hour 41 mins
Director. Alejandro Amenábar
Cast. James Bentley, Christopher Eccleston, Fionnula Flanagan, Nicole Kidman, Alaina Mann.
Rating. 64%

Review.

"No door must be opened without the previous one being closed first. It's vital that you remember this. It's not as easy as it may seem." 

With this perfunctory and cursory exposition, the scene is set in Alejandro Amenábar's The Others.

The Others is a stylish, atmospheric and evocative throwback to classic Victorian ghost stories [Charlotte Riddell's The Open Door and Henry James' The Turn of the Screw immediately spring to mind] which in turn inspired the classic 1960s horror films, The Haunting and The Innocents.

Nicole Kidman plays Grace Stewart, mother to two young children, who are seemingly confined to an isolated Jersey mansion awaiting the day her husband will return home from World War II. Kidman is shrewdly cast as the prim and proper, puritanical mother attempting to maintain discipline but struggling with her own mental health frailties.

A superbly crafted film, The Others relies on atmosphere and suggestion rather than jump-scares or superficial gore to entertain. The film is set in a gloomy mansion, which creates an innate sense of claustrophobia and unease. In some ways, it acts as a character in its own right. The mansion is routinely enveloped in a thick fog, and Alejandro Amenábar makes use of every shadow with dimly-lit cinematography, giving the impression that something sinister is continually lurking out of sight and creating a palpable sense of dread.

The Others is a film that explores its central theme with intelligence and intellect. But although the ideas are compelling, The Others remains a little too generic and a little too predictable.