A Shockingly Good Time...A Movie Lover's Tribute to Ghost Stories.

Rating: 10/10 (16 September 2001)

I have seen this film three times with a total of 9 different friends. Out of the 10 of us, only one person didn't get completely frightened out of his wits, but every other person I saw it with couldn't stop talking about the film after we saw it. We couldn't stop thinking about the film after it was over.
"The Others" is a difficult film to describe but not give away. For this reason, READ AS LITTLE OF ANY REVIEW AS POSSIBLE. I will attempt to keep this review concise and spoiler free.
Nicole Kidman plays Grace, a mother who has been left alone with her two children after a mysterious event that forced her house maintenance workers and daycare helpers away from the house. Alakina Mann and James Bentley play Nicole Kidman's children Anne and Nicholas. The brother and sister are apparently unable to leave the house due to a mysterious skin condition. This is all of the plot that is fair to give away before seeing the film.
The film is obviously a labor of love for director/writer/composer Alejandro Amenabar, and never have I remembered seeing a film that the screenwriter had such malicious fun writing. There is a great amount of mischievous glee in seeing Grace reveal the rules of the house, the other characters revealing what they know about the house's secret, and in Amenabar slowly turning the screws of terror with his masterful compositions of visual cues and sound effects. The first time seeing the film is one of the most terrifying film experiences I've had in my life. There is just so much here to get worked up over. Even as Amenabar turns up his orchestral hits, its evident he's not doing it just to get a scare out of the audience. Each scene has one character in the middle of the scares who is in absolute terror, and the music represents his/her fright at that moment.
So, the film has about a dozen little scares, about 2 or 3 real big ones, and a general undying creepiness that lasts throughout the entire film. Happily, there are also a few laughs and loving moments thrown in so it isn't a completely dark experience. There is also a strong intelligence and development of themes in the entire film, giving it a true importance, allowing for endless thought and discussion about the film. The film asks difficult and meaningful questions about conditional/unconditional love, religion, and the nature of existence. Of course, during the first viewing, none of this will go through your mind as you will be scared out of your wits. Any question you are likely to have the first time will relate to "What the @#%& is in that house?", so the other themes will likely enter your mind after the film and during subsequent viewings.
Also, the film's three lead performances rank as the best performances I've seen this year from any film. Nicole Kidman is outstanding as Grace and I would rank this as the best performance so far this year, perhaps tied with Haley Joel Osment's performance in "A.I. Artificial Intelligence". Alakina Mann and James Bentley also give exquisite performances, and, after Osment's last performance, I would say they give the best English-speaking child performances I've ever seen.
In summary, I would say that "The Others" ranks as one of the few films this year that could be deemed "unmissable". It is a eerily beautiful film that releases its nuances slowly, during the course of its plot and also over subsequent viewings. I've also never been as scared during a film as I was in "The Others", and every audience I have seen it with couldn't help but randomly scream and jump during every part of the film. The more I analyze the film, the more I am in awe of its technical wizardry. The film is so dense and complex that it is worth more thought and discussion than the typical horror film, or even the typical Hollywood drama.
While I haven't mentioned it yet, I believe that Amenabar's motive for making this film was the same reason Baz Luhrmann made "Moulin Rouge!". This film was meant to be an ode to the ghost-story film, taking every piece possible from every well known ghost film and fashioning a very thoughtful puzzle of artwork out of the pieces. The film is a movie lover's tribute to ghost stories.
This is a truly wonderful film experience. I give it **** (out of 4).