Deja Boo

Rating: 5/10 (17 September 2001)

As the lights dimmed in the theatre, I was prepared for Gothic mystery, the supernatural, and some good story telling. To my surprise, I discovered that I was not seeing one film, but a combination of three that came to mind almost immediately. Take "The Innocents" (1961) mix with "The Sixth Sense" (1999) and add a drop of "The Night Has Eyes" (1942), and you have "The Others". Much of this film is derivative -- the religion-obsessed maternal figure, the sheltered young brother and sister, and the oh-so-accommodating hired help all set in a nice spooky old house perpetually surrounded by an eternal fog. There are a few plot threads left dangling, to say the least. Discussing those would involve getting into some spoilers, which I never do in films of this type. But then again, you'll probably figure the story out long before the characters on the screen do.