Excellent combination of the Sixth Sense and Beetlejuice

Rating: Null/10 (30 January 2002)

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD: In 1999, M. Night Shyamalan's "The Sixth Sense" raised the bar for the modern day horror/suspense film. Now, despite the disappointing similarities to Shyamalan's arguable classic, "The Others" raises the bar higher. Like Shyamalan's film, director Alejandro Amenabar clutters his film with many subtle details to sink your teeth into. For example, the religious overtones of the film (from Grace's stern biblical morals that she instills in her children to her belief that the living and the dead will coexist ONLY at the end of eternity) are not just intriguing as character traits of people in a horror film but as pieces that assemble together and form the film's story. Since the film is told through Grace's eyes and since the film ultimately builds up to Grace's realization of herself and her family, it is imperative that we the audience experience the same feelings that Grace does. And, thankfully, the acting is superb all around, anchored by Nicole Kidman's flawless portrayal of the hopelessly tormented Grace. She manages to pull off the tough task of convincing the audience that while she is grounded by her religious convictions, she is internally conflicted by the madness around her. When can she trust her daughter? How can she keep her sadness directed toward her husband away from her innocent children? When does she have time to rest? It seems as if this woman always has something to worry about, but has nobody to talk to about her problems. Even so, the audience never is unsure of what Grace is feeling inside, and this is because of Kidman's tremendous performance. Unfortunately the film's payoff is not as tremendous as the film sets it up to be. Now, there is nothing wrong, per se, with the film's resolution. But, like others have pointed out, one can not pretend when critiquing this film that "The Sixth Sense" does not exist. In fact, I repeatedly attempted to predetermine the film's twist ending, and was unable to conjure a satisfactory conclusion. The film stumped me. But when the last minutes did unfold, I felt as if I were cheated. Basically, if I knew the filmmakers did not mind retreading the twist to 'The Sixth Sense,' I would not have tried so hard to think of an ending that was not similar to that of "The Sixth Sense." As it is, in relation to "The Sixth Sense," the ending is too similar even to warrant one's forward perception. Along with this drawback, add to it the fact that, ahem, the ending admits that the whole time we were watching just a serious retelling of part of the "Beetlejuice" concept (Grace and her children are just like "Beetlejuice"'s Maitland couple in the beginning of that film) and the ending turns out to be a real downer. Therefore, the best advice I can give is to see this picture before "The Sixth Sense" and "Beetlejuice." Nevertheless, even if you have seen those pictures, the strong performances (Kidman deserves that Golden Globe nomination) and the film's first 95 minutes make for one taught, thrilling, dense, and sometimes tense, ghost story. Final Grade: A-