Good, but not great.

Rating: Null/10 (3 December 2001)

The best thing about this movie is that it looks really good. A brilliant gothic atmosphere envelops the entire production and the acting is first rate, but it doesn't quite all come together, I can't say exactly what it is missing, but it just adds up to less than the sum of it's parts.
***What follows are not exactly SPOILERS, but what I have to say will probably help you work out the ending even easier than you would have.***

Think of the ending to the overrated THE SIXTH SENSE, remember that? good, now think, maybe even more so, of the ending to the underrated HAUNTED(the one with Aidan Quinn and Kate Beckinsale), there's your ending, maybe you won't guess every tiny detail, but you will have pretty much worked it out early on. Making it even worse is the fact that the movie seems to be trying it's hardest to give away the ending at every opportunity, the children are firing off clues every five minutes and the house keepers don't exactly make it any harder either.
When are writers going to realize that you don't have to have a surprise ending every time(unless you have come up with something truly new), it's no longer a surprise if every movie has one, and when you know that there is a surprise ending before you see the film you invariably end up spending the running time of the film just trying to work out what the ending will be.
THE OTHERS is still a good movie, certainly better than THE SIXTH SENSE, but there are better films in the haunted house/supernatural genre, such as THE CHANGELING, HAUNTED and THE HAUNTING(the 60's version).
7/10