Tremendous movie; very engrossing

Rating: 9/10 (23 September 2006)

The performance of Nicole Kidman in this is outstanding. She plays the part extremely well and had me utterly convinced that she truly was the conservative, sensible-shoe-wearing, overbearing mother in the piece, though quite captivatingly beautiful she is too. It does make quite a refreshing change from the regular formulaic Hollywood type 'horror' films that seem to be proliferating theatres and DVD shelves these days. You won't find yourself shouting "don't open that door" like one does in desperation at so many awful b movie characters - you'll be looking at Ms. Kidman's face and you'll be right there with her.
This film is set some fifty years ago. Now, normally with some type of period pieces, things start well before some character uses some modern slang/colloquialism and it pulls you right out of the movie. I can assure you that in The Others, the dialogue is simply sublime. Every detail has been attended to to ensure it is faithful to the era; from the behaviour of the children to the address of the servants.
The children actors here are simply outstanding. With the help of the excellent dialogue they deliver an awe-inspiring performance that absolutely makes the film.
Storywise, it is excellent and original in my opinion - and horror movies are my favourite, so I believe I've seen a few in my time.
So if you're tired of clichÃ©s, of the group-of-teens.. .camp-in-a-graveyard.. .as-an-initiation-ritual-then-get-killed type movies then perhaps you'd appreciate this eerie, evocative, and downright chilling horror movie as much as I have.