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The Others

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Average rating
(70%)
 
Starring: Nicole Kidman | Christopher Eccleston | Fionnula Flanagan | Elaine Cassidy | Eric Sykes | Renee Asherton | Keith Allen
Director: Alejandro Amenabar
Studio: BUENA VISTA HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time: 104 mins
Collections: 100 Horror Films
Genres: Horror | Thriller
Languages: English
Hearing-impaired: English
Subtitles: English
Released: September 23, 2002
Also available on:

THE OTHERS begins with a close-up of a woman screaming. By the time this intense film ends, everyone watching it will be screaming and gasping. Nicole Kidman stars as Grace, a woman raising two children by herself in a creepy mansion. World War II is over, but Grace's husband never returned. Meanwhile, the two children, Anne and Nicholas, must constantly stay in the dark because they are deathly allergic to light. Then one day, three people show up to take over for Grace's disappeared staff, and trouble starts to brew. The odd trio--an aging nanny, an elderly gardener, and a young mute girl--seems to have a slightly different agenda than Grace and the children do. But when Anne starts talking to strange, unseen people, the scares start building to an incredible climax.
Alejandro Amenabar's highly stylized English-language debut is one of the finest films in the haunted-house genre. Not only did Amenabar write and direct the film but he composed the eerie music as well. Kidman is outstanding as the overprotective mother trying to save her children, while Fionnula Flanagan excels as the nanny with a deep, dark secret. Because the children must remain in darkness, Grace must lock every door behind her, to make sure that the children don't accidentally enter a brightly lit room; it is a marvelous horror-film device that Amenabar uses to perfection.

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Rating of 3 stars out of 5
Radio Times

Open Your Eyes director Alejandro Amenábar references such tastefully literate chillers of the past as The Haunting and The Innocents in this, his English-language debut feature. Nicole Kidman gives a powerful turn as a highly strung woman living alone in a postwar Jersey mansion with her two light-sensitive children. It's when she engages a trio of new servants that her shadowy home suddenly turns very creepy indeed, as her daughter starts to see “things” and they all experience seemingly supernatural events. Relying on deliberately old-fashioned bumps in the night for suspense and Gothic spookiness, Amenábar invokes the spirit of RKO horror producer Val Lewton — of Cat People fame — to create a study in terror that relies on performance, atmosphere and mood rather than anything too tangibly modern. Almost resembling a serious high art version of Beetle Juice, this frostily macabre melodrama is for those who prefer their goose bumps delivered with sophistication, not a sledgehammer.

Highest rated reviews

9 out of 9 people found the following review helpful:


It should have been a episode of x-files.

macoxy from from wakefield, 28th August, 2004

What a bore.
Why did Nicole do this film. I thought Eric Sykes was dead [his career is now].
For those of you with a fast forward button get the first ten minutes, ten minutes in the middle and the last ten minutes and save yourself some time for something more interesting.

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9 out of 11 people found the following review helpful:


margaret#25 from CLYDEBANK, 15th April, 2004

What an ending. Totally unexpected and you then feel you want to watch the film all over again! Brilliant and one to watch with a big bowl of popcorn

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6 out of 8 people found the following review helpful:


Good cinematography but it blew its own cover

Marianthi from London, 28th January, 2004

Without wanting to reveal any crucial plot elements, this well-produced thriller becomes less interesting half-way through with the appearance of Christopher Eccleston. This gives it all away. Also the screenwriter didn't play their main card (what happened THAT night) very well and as a result, what could have been a really chilling experience became more predictable. But Kidman did a fantastic job and the same goes for the rest of the cast too.

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5 out of 7 people found the following review helpful:


mind blowing

arun from Liverpool, UK, 16th April, 2005

The film doesnt move out of the manor house and focusses on Nicole Kidman and her two photosensitive children and the three servants. Even then it has a compelling and interesting screenplay. There are no visuals of the supernatural things, but then it scares u out of ur wits.The climax was predictable becos i had read the reviews and also it could be guessed by your 'sixth sense'. it sets u thinking when the credits roll and that it is what makes the film stand apart.

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Most recent reviews


The Others

Gracie from , 22nd July, 2008

Really good, chilling will keep you on the edge of your seat through out.

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Scary, Sad and Confusing

Elaine Robinson from Coventry, England, 27th June, 2008

This is a really good film, the kind of film M Night Shyamalan would make, a good film to watch

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Customer Review

A Customer from UK, 23rd June, 2008

It is not fun, and it is really slow, but it does hold your attention and eventually delivers a good ending. Not a film for everyone. It is painfully dark both literally (curtains closed in every room) and in mood. There is a mystery concerning the mother & her 2 childen and the 3 house staff, but it is the trauma the family are suffering which is the meat of the film. This definately isn't a classic horror film, although it has all the ingredient. So it is original in some ways. The performances are great and the icy temper is maintained throughout. If you are temped then I would recomend it - switch the lights off, get comfy, let yourself get taken for the ride and reserve your judgements for afterwards.

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Customer Review

A Customer from UK, 23rd June, 2008

This is a really good film, some good scares and one i could watch again.

Great film! but is a bit slow in parts

This is worth watching

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