Atmospheric disturbances

Rating: 8/10 (6 March 2002)

The best thrills and chills are those inside our own heads. Everyone knows it but Hollywood keeps trying to outdo itself with more gristle, more gore and ever bigger vats of blood. Not the case with this film, which is almost a throwback to the ghost stories of the 19th century and the B&W mystery films of the mid 20th century. Revisiting that territory, in a film as tidily put together as this one, is refreshing.
Nicole Kidman is radiant as Grace, the isolated, migraine-prone mother of two perturbed children (Alakina Mann is wonderful as the older child Anne, James Bentley is good too). Both children suffer from photosensitivity and Grace is meticulous in protecting them from the daylight. But all is not well. They are marooned in a mansion house (Grace appropriately compares the house to a ship at one point), the place is eerily fog-bound, the postman hasn't come, three new servants have arrived unexpectedly and the children are noticing that they don't appear to be the only ones on the house. Then Grace starts noticing things too...
The most trivial things become objects of fear and suspense in this film. A face in a picture, shadows, a moving curtain, a door that moves suddenly, a bump upstairs, half-heard whispers, a piano playing behind a closed door, dense fog. The atmosphere is developed superbly and Kidman plays her part - when required, she looks utterly s*** scared. But don't expect gory shocks for there are none.